The Reuplodation of Yuki Nagato
by Erich Zann III
Summary: This is the same base story as the Confession of Yuki Nagato.  I changed it a bit, based on some reviews that I got.  If you still don't like it, feel free to tell me.  M for a reason.
1. Chapter 1

This is the reuploaded version of _The Confession of Yuki Nagato_. Please tell me if you like it more or less than the old one. It's all the same to me. I wrote both of them, more or less on a whim, so hit me with what you've got.

Chapter One

I suppose I should start from the beginning. I've been in this alternate reality for 4 months, now. It's April, and the cherry blossoms are blooming. My name is Kyon, and 4 months ago, I was drawn into this reality by an unknown person (was it Haruhi?), and have been living a normal life ever since. And hey, it's not so bad. I've got friends here, now. The same friends that I had back in my home reality. Haruhi Suzumiya, the intelligent, but extremely eccentric high school girl (formerly "God"), Itsuki Koizumi, the constantly smiling, somewhat smug high school boy (former esper), Mikuru Asahina, an extraordinarily beautiful Lolita faced girl (formerly a time traveler), and Yuki Nagato, a timid bookworm who I sometimes catch staring at me before she looks away and blushes (formerly an alien), and of course, me, Kyon, the only "normal" one of the group, though how normal I can possibly be if I was chosen for "Suzumiya's Band of Merry Men" as Taniguchi calls us, I'm not really sure.

Although Haruhi and Koizumi both go to Kouyouen High, the prep school down the hill from us, it's not so hard getting together, and Haruhi, although she never took me seriously in my former reality, after finding out that I'm "John Smith" as I called myself that time, she hangs on every word I say. It's kind of funny. She loves listening to me talk about the wackadoo adventures that we all went on back in my former reality. I call it my former reality because this is my world, now, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Although the others all seem to think I'm a bit unseated, including Asahina's friend, Tsuruya, none of them seem to mind, as they get a kick out of my crazy stories, anyhow.

Nevertheless, every day we would go down to the café near the two schools, and sit and have coffee. Nagato would just sit there silently, as if hoping that nobody would notice her, Haruhi would jabber on about aliens, time travelers, and espers, sometimes asking me questions about the alternate versions of the ones sitting there, and her own alternate self. While it was true that her alternate self was quite as selfish as the one sitting before me, this one was much more willing to accept that I was telling the truth. Was it because I told her that I was John Smith, which she still called me, despite the fact that I've told her my real name at least five times. Well, I suppose it's no worse than being called 'Kyon'.

Asahina was still a little bit skeptical, and kept shooting me glances, as if worried that I'd fly off the handle again like I did when I first met "her". Who could say what would happen, though? Would Tsuruya murder me when she found out where Asahina-san was going after school these days? She shouldn't. After all, it was really Haruhi who dragged her here day after day, not me. Would Ryoko Asakura go crazy again and try to murder me? What could set her off? She seemed so normal. Of course, Alien Asakura seemed normal, too, even more normal than Nagato, and yet, Nagato wasn't the psycho. Suddenly, I was snapped out of my daze by Koizumi, who smiled at me as he usually did, and opened his mouth to speak.

"Kyon, may I borrow a moment of your time? I promise it won't take long. I'm sure you'd rather be sitting with three beautiful women than talking to me…" He said, smirking, and then laughing.

_What are you trying to say, Koizumi?_

"Sure. No problem." I replied, standing up and walking out the door of the café with the former Esper. Immediately when we got outside, his smile faded, and he looked at me very seriously.

"So…" I said. "Am I going to see your 'true personality', now?" Koizumi looked at me, slightly surprised.

"Well, I'm not sure what you mean by 'true personality'. If you mean that you believe me to be faking my friendly demeanor, you may be right. I'm not entirely sure myself what to say that I am. But rather, I'd like to ask how you knew that this 'John Smith' name would get Miss Suzumiya's attention like that. You say that you come from an alternate timeline, or alternate reality, that you are a 'slider' for lack of a better term. However, I know, and if I'm correct that Miss Suzumiya is much more logical than she appears, that she knows as well, that this is impossible. Why did you decide to come here like this? It seems strange that someone like you, who claims to have come from an alternate reality, would just happen to show up and declare openly, to a girl who just so happened to be looking for people like that, your background. Highly convenient, I'm sure you'd agree."

"So, you're going with the theory of, 'if it seems too good to be true, it probably is'?" I asked him. I wasn't really in the mood to explain my motives to Koizumi of all people. However, I suppose I didn't really have a choice. He had as much right to know as anyone. However, it seemed oddly nostalgic, this sort of conversation, except the explanations happened in reverse the first time. It was him explaining everything to me, rather than me explaining to him.

"I suppose you could call it that… Not a bad analogy."

"Well, unfortunately, I can understand your doubt. I had my own when all this was first explained to me. However, it was later proven to be true. Now that I'm stuck in this alternate reality, there's really no way that I could possibly prove it to you. Anyone who could have is gone, or at least replaced by mundane versions of themselves. So at that, I can't make you believe me. I can only try to tell you that this isn't a joke, and I have no secret agenda, other than to adapt to this life of normalcy."

"I see. Well, nothing I say is going to make you disappear. I'd prefer that you didn't hang out with us, but as Miss Suzumiya seems quite taken with you, 'John Smith', I can't really do anything about it."

"_You_ could leave. I'm not trying to take Haruhi away from you if that's what you're worried about."

"I suppose you have a point. You seem more interested in Miss Nagato…" Koizumi said sheepishly with his usual smirk. I scowled at him, and flipped him off.

"Fine, fine… Be that way. You needn't admit it to me, but you should do so to her sooner rather than later. Although she's very shy, that doesn't mean that her feelings are any less significant."

"And just what does that mean?" I asked Koizumi, glaring at him. At this, he merely shrugged and turned around. "What, indeed. Well, if you ever manage to scrounge up some proof that I was an Esper in an alternate reality, please tell me."

"There was proof. You remember the day we first met, right? I referred to myself as John Smith and then you and Haruhi came with me to North High and kidnapped Asahina and brought her to the Literary Clubroom. When that happened…"

"The computer turned on of its own accord… According to Miss Nagato, anyhow." Koizumi said, hitting his palm with his fist, opening his eyes completely, and staring at me. It was a bit disconcerting.

"Exactly. Two days before then, I woke up to find that the world was completely changed, and the only person that still existed from the SOS Brigade who even knew who I was was Yuki Nagato, although her memory of me was slightly skewed from my memory of the event. I searched through all of the books in the Literary Club, and came across the first book that Nagato lent me, ostensibly so I would read it, but she had hidden a note inside a bookmark back then. This time, I found another bookmark that said "find the key. Two days." So when I got all of us together in that clubroom, the computer turned on, and it was the old Nagato, saying that there was a way to correct the space-time anomaly, or some shit like that. If I wanted to, hit Y, if not, press any key, and the program would be deleted."

"Obviously, you decided not to go back to your old world. Why? Why would you want to remain here in this world that was so strange to you? Where we had no extraordinary powers, and none of us even knew you existed until recently?"

"Why?" I asked him, thinking for a moment. I wasn't entirely sure why I had chosen to stay. Surely it was because I was finally living the normal life I had always wanted. But was that the reason? It was true that living a 'normal' life in this world was much safer than any life I could have lived in my old world. No death defying field trips, vacations to islands where we got trapped for days in a hurricane, or strange games of baseball in which we somehow beat trained athletes despite merely being a ragtag team of high school students. I was sure at the time, in fact, I knew, that eventually, this would become the norm, and unlike my old world, life would become dull and humdrum. But I didn't care. I had lived the life that I had always dreamed about as a kid, with Espers, aliens, time travelers, shady organizations pulling strings in the government, and people with powers that defied all logic. Now, I was ready to just be normal again.

"I guess I realized this life isn't so bad. Normal people, normal school, normal after school… Well, relatively speaking."

"Aha! Well, that's an interesting perspective… You don't regret it, then?" Koizumi asked me, and I smiled back at him for the first time that day.

"No. I suppose I don't. Besides, this Haruhi is much easier to talk to than the Haruhi I used to know, you know, given the knowledge that if you said the wrong thing to her, she might rewrite the entire world."

At this, Koizumi laughed again, and started walking back in. "I can see that might pose a problem for one such as yourself. Well, don't let me keep you. Your girlfriends are no doubt wondering where you went…"

"I told you, none of them are my girlfriend, let alone all three of them."

As I sat back down, though, and Nagato smiled timidly at me, the worst possible thing that could have happened… happened. I heard the bell tinkle over the café door, and Tsuruya, Miss Asahina's friend walked into the café with a huge grin on her face, and was seated almost immediately. I kind of hoped that she didn't notice us, but luck wasn't on my side that day, as had already been proven by Koizumi's interrogation of me. As she was looking over the menu, she looked up and saw us sitting over in the corner, and gave a slight start before jumping up and running over to the table.

"Hey! Mikuru! So _this_ is where you've been going after school every day? No wonder I can't find you anymore in the calligraphy club! Who are these people!"

"Haruhi Suzumiya…" Haruhi said quietly, acting uncommonly polite.

"Itsuki Koizumi. It's nice to meet you," Koizumi said, standing and bowing politely to Tsuruya.

"Y-Yuki Nagato…" Nagato muttered, barely above a whisper, which could hardly be heard in the café.

"And I'm…" I began.

"I know who _you_ are! You're the weird guy who assaulted Mikuru that day four months ago!" Tsuruya snapped. "What's Mikuru doing with you, anyhow? You didn't kidnap her, did you?" Tsuruya asked loudly, pointing at me.

"I most certainly did not! And I resent that, thank you very much!" I replied indignantly. I may be as weird as they come, but I would never kidnap someone. That was more up Haruhi's alley.

"Well you don't exactly have a good track record, bub!"

"I hardly have any track record! And in all fairness, I was a little… okay, way wrong in the head that day. I was a little bit off with everyone else as well…" I lied to her. What other choice did I have? The truth would have been too strange for even someone as eccentric as Tsuruya to accept… I was only hoping that I could count on Asahina to not blow my cover, as I had been indulging Haruhi's endless questions about my alternate reality right in front of Asahina for four months, now. Surely, the brown haired beauty would realize that I was lying to cover my ass. Hopefully, she also knows now that I'm not dangerous or crazy… But with the stories I've been telling that are as good as lies given the circumstances I myself have chosen, she might _still_ believe that I'm a total nutjob. Hey, there's no helping it, I guess. I looked hopefully at Tsuruya, and waited as she stared at me suspiciously. Finally, she snorted, and sat down, pushing Koizumi further into the booth.

"Well… What did you say your name was, again?" She asked harshly, pointing rather rudely at me and grabbing a few fries from the middle of the table.

"Just call me Kyon. Everyone always has in the past…" I said, the double entendre quite clear to anyone who had listened to me for long enough. However, to her, it probably just sounded like my nickname.

"_Kyon_?" She asked, looking annoyed. "Can't you think of a better nickname than _that_?" She asked severely. It was quite clear that she still didn't like or trust me.

"Well, my real name is Kyosuke, but my aunt called me Kyon once, and my little sister sort of made it stick."

"Whatever… _Kyosuke_… Your name doesn't really suit your face. You don't look like a _Kyosuke_…"

"What name would you give me then?" I asked somewhat irately. I knew that my name didn't really suit me, but having _her_ of all people say that was kind of annoying.

"Just call him John!" Haruhi suddenly blurted out, and I knew that Tsuruya would either laugh her head off, or that I would be doomed with the story that was about to be told.

"John?" Tsuruya asked, raising an eyebrow and looking suspiciously at me.

"Yeah! John Smith!"

"Isn't that, like, Taro Yamada?*" Tsuruya asked. To that, I could only shrug. I had _no_ idea what she was talking about!

"I don't think so. It was just a name I made up on the fly a few years back before we, that is, all of us excluding you and Miss Asahina, you two being older than we are, entered high school."

"Okay, you've got my attention…"

"Well, I was…" I started, but unfortunately, Tsuruya didn't trust me yet, and so, telling her about time travelling back three years and altering the past was a no go. Fortunately, Haruhi in her infinite impatience, interrupted me.

"I was breaking into my middle school when I came across John, here, and he wrote the message on the soccer field in chalk to Hikoboshi on Tanabata. It was in the papers. He wrote, "I am here". Then, he showed up again ten minutes later and shouted 'Here's to saving the world by overloading it with fun with John Smith.' But try as I might, I couldn't find John Smith in the North High registry, despite the fact that he was wearing the uniform, and so, I figured he had to have graduated, and I decided to go to Kouyouen instead."

"Mhm… So you're saying that despite the fact that he looked like a high schooler and wore a high school uniform, he is only now in his first year of high school?" Tsuruya asked skeptically. At this, I stepped in, and tried to say something that would at least quell her suspicions for the moment.

"I could explain it to you, Miss Tsuruya, but you wouldn't believe me, so I don't really want to waste my breath doing it." I said in a slightly challenging manner, granted. Perhaps she would take the hint and not question me further. I suppose the ideal situation that I was hoping for was that she would not say anything and simply take Miss Asahina and warn me never to go near her again. Not _the_ ideal situation, having two people in North High thinking I'm a stalker/pervert/nutjob… But, as long as they kept their silence about it, which I was fairly sure Miss Asahina would do, and was somewhat less sure that Miss Tsuruya would do, maybe the situation wouldn't get any worse. Unfortunately, things never work out the way I plan them… It's like Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong will. I had never strictly adhered to that theory, feeling that although many things often did go wrong for me, enough things went right that the "law" was effectively disproven. However, now there was no worse time for the law to be flaunted right in my face.

"Try me, Mr. Stalker. I have plenty of free time, and I feel like I should stay here, if only to make sure you don't do anything weird to Mikuru here…"

"Fine, but you asked, so you don't have the right to call me crazy afterwards."

"I have the right to do whatever the hell I want, _John_! Just get on with it!" Tsuruya snapped. God, she was almost as impatient as Haruhi… And that was hard to do.

"Well, anyway, I suppose the story starts back sometime between December 17th and December 18th. I went to school on the 17th as I always did. This was back in a previous life, I suppose you could call it, though, I suppose the more accurate term would be an alternate reality. In this reality, Nagato over here was an alien, Koizumi, who went to North High at the time was an Esper, and Mikuru, who was a member of the SOS Brigade was a time traveler… You don't want to know what Haruhi was. Anyway, I guess we were sort of friends with you, although Mikuru merely introduced you as a friend of hers from her class, so I suppose that much hasn't changed. But between the 17th and the 18th, something really weird happened, and when I woke up on the 18th, the whole world had changed, although I didn't notice it until I walked into my class and saw that not only was Haruhi not there, but that Ryoko Asakura, who I knew had been "deleted" by Nagato was in Haruhi's seat. So that, among other reasons was why I was so out of it that day. I was hoping that someone from the old SOS Brigade besides me had retained their memories, so I went around looking for them, but only found Miss Asahina, on whom it seems I made a rather horrifying first impression, and Nagato, who knew me, but only from the public library where I helped her get a library card. So that's how the first day ended, and the next day, I was still slightly dazed, but I went back to the Literary Clubroom and searched through the books, and found the first book that the Alien Nagato had let me borrow. It had a bookmark inside which Nagato said was 'reminiscent of her handwriting, but that had not been written by her', and it said that I had to find 'the key'. Nagato had never made much sense to me, though, so I wasn't surprised that what she was saying was meaningless to me. So, I went back to class, where my friends, Taniguchi and Kunikida were sitting, and Kunikida remembered the conversation from the day before, and mentioned Haruhi Suzumiya again, who Taniguchi remembered from his middle school as the… er… extremely eccentric girl…"

"Taniguchi? That name sounds familiar… Didn't I date him for like five minutes?" Haruhi broke in, scowling in deep thought. "What a dull guy…"

"Er… Right. Anyway, I went to Kouyouen, where Taniguchi said that Haruhi had gone after middle school and told her that I was the "John Smith" that she had met three years previously on Tanabata. So she and Koizumi came back up to North High, and we sort of… borrowed Miss Asahina and went to the Literary Club, where the computer suddenly turned on, and offered me a chance to restore the world to the way it was before it was changed so drastically."

"And?" Tsuruya asked, now looking rather interested. Well, it was better than I had hoped. At least she hadn't flown off the handle with my seemingly insane story.

"And what? That's it. I decided that I liked this world better, and I deleted the program. Back in my normal reality, every day had something weird going on with Haruhi and the SOS Brigade. They were good friends, and I really enjoyed some of the things we did, but having a normal life where I wasn't in danger of being murdered by psychotic aliens, blown away by freak tropical storms, or caught in neverending loops of time that last over 500 years is kind of nice. So I filled out the application to the Literary Club that Nagato gave me and decided to stay. I know, it sounds completely mad. I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't lived it, but alas…" I finished. For a moment, Tsuruya said nothing. Then she burst into her usual loud laughter. That was the Tsuruya I knew. It was kind of funny to see her laughing like that again.

"Well, John Smith, I can't say exactly whether I believe you or not! Your story is pretty far-fetched, and as for your explanation of Mikuru's place in your original reality… Somehow she doesn't strike me as much of a… *pfft* time traveler! But you sure do know how to tell a good story. Maybe the Literary Club was the right place for you! You could get rich writing books about this shit! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Tsuruya dissolved into a fit of giggles again, that ended up getting everyone else laughing as well, even timid little Nagato, who cracked one of her rare, but oh-so-adorable smiles that definitely looked better on her face than any pair of glasses could (although, I wasn't complaining about the glasses, either).

*A/N: For anyone who doesn't know, Taro Yamada is the Japanese version of John Doe, and Hana Yamada would be Jane Doe, as Taro and Hana were at the time the most common names in Japan. Tsuruya was commenting on how generic Kyon's alias was.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I suppose I should say that after that "talk" with Tsuruya was when my life really changed a lot. Yuki still seemed like she had something that she wanted to say, but, as she had already spoken so much, I feel that I'm safe in guessing that she didn't want to say anything else for fear of sounding stupid. The other Yuki may have been able to say just about anything with a straight face, but this Yuki was shy, and almost painfully so. It probably had taken most of her courage just to ask all the questions that she had that day. Koizumi was the perceptive one, so it was he who noticed second that Yuki seemed intent on saying something. In truth, I'm glad that despite the fact that he's a smug bastard in both realities, he is at least tactful. And so, he looked at his watch and said with a face that made it all too obvious to me that he was lying "I am very sorry. I have a previous engagement tonight with my family, though. Even we Espers can't neglect family ties…"

And with that, Koizumi simply stood and put his share of the bill on the table. Reluctantly, Haruhi went with him, although she seemed like she wanted to refuse, to stay and talk more. However, she went with Koizumi, and next it was Miss Asahina's turn to leave. She stood and bowed politely to me.

"Kyosuke-kun… I apologize for hitting you back in December…" She said politely. "You may be a little bit eccentric, but you seem like a nice person."

When she smiled, her entire face lit up. It was like the old Asahina had come back. I wondered vaguely if this Asahina was as good at making tea as the other Asahina. I knew that they were in fact one and the same, but somehow, that still seemed strange to me. Tsuruya, in contrast to Asahina's farewell, looked suspiciously at me, but then gave me a sort of half-smile, and said, "Well, I don't completely trust you, _Kyosuke_, but Mikuru-chan seems to have finally forgiven you, so I guess I can't hold a grudge any longer, either. I'll see you whenever…" And with that, she strode out proudly, walking next to Asahina, looking for all the world like the sweet princess's guardian angel.

Now, with only Yuki left, I wondered if she was going to say what she had on her mind the entire day. At first, it seemed like she was just going to content herself with sitting and glancing at me nervously, then looking away. She looked mortified, like she was about to cry. Then, she stood up rather mechanically, grabbing my hand with both of hers and jerking me to the doorway. I grabbed some money out of my pocket before I was pulled from the table and paid my share of the bill, then allowed the extremely petite girl to drag me to the door and out onto the sidewalk. Once out there, she let go of my hand with her left hand and pulled me behind the café where I could only guess that the employees took their breaks. It was a beautiful day out, and cherry petals were scattered all over the ground wherever one went because it was springtime and that was the nature of the season. Fortunately, we no longer had to deal with cherry blossoms in the middle of fall like we did when Haruhi was "God", and other bizarre events. For a few moments, Yuki said nothing, then she took a deep breath and blurted everything out in one go. Definitely not what I expected, but so adorable that I couldn't help but be endeared by it.

"!" It was all one long word, and as tiny as she was, I was a little surprised that she had the lung capacity to say it all in one breath. So shocked was I not just at the question, but the sudden delivery that I said nothing for a moment. I guess Yuki first took that to mean no, too, because she waited for two seconds… then four… then eight… Slowly, then, the color rose to her face, and tears formed in her eyes. By the time she was done blushing, her face was beet red, and she looked horrified. Her whole body was stiff as a rod, almost like I could have given her a light tap, and she would have toppled over like a tower that was too tall.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry!" She cried, waving her hands frantically. I wondered now… Was this how the other Yuki felt all the time? Even as she gave explanations that no human could possibly understand? Even as she engaged in all those ridiculous activities that Haruhi planned? Was the girl secretly just terribly, painfully shy, and covering it up with an icy cool façade or perhaps Alien Yuki just had no way to express traits such as "shyness" and "nervousness", and so, they simply came across as "introversion" and "bluntness".

"P-please f-f-forget I said anything!" Yuki pleaded. I suddenly held my hand up for her to stop, though, and in the midst of taking a breath for her next sentence, she stopped dead.

"Yuki, I haven't said anything yet. You just surprised me. That's all. I've actually been wondering for a while if I should ask you out…" I said. It was true as well. It wasn't on the top of my mind or anything like that, but we had gotten rather close over the past four months, I had turned in the application for the literary club, and on days that Haruhi and Koizumi didn't come to the café with us, we would sit around and read, or talk, or whatever. Whatever Yuki thought of my stories of the alternate world, she at least enjoyed listening to me talk about it. As I looked at Yuki, she looked back in mild astonishment, and blushed happily this time.

"R-really?" She asked simply. I know, it was kind of a clichéd scene, but maybe she had read so many books where this kind of thing happened that she hoped that if she set it up like this, that it would be more likely to work… I don't know. I'm not a mind reader, and Yuki isn't either anymore.

"Is that so surprising?" I asked quietly, putting a hand behind my head and scratching an itch that had suddenly popped up rather annoyingly.

"W-well… Yes… R-Ryoko Asakura is th-the only one who ever paid much attention to me before. Before you helped me with my library card, I sometimes wondered… if I died, if anyone would even notice…"

Wow. Talk about depressing. I've known for months now that this Yuki Nagato, at least, was shy. I didn't know that she was so lonely, though, as well. Did Asakura know this about Yuki? If she did, was she doing anything to try to help? Did she even know what to do? I know I wouldn't have known what to do… I suppose I could've tried to tell the school counselor, but would that really help? Or would Yuki just stop trusting me?

"Kyon? W-would you… like to g-go to the cinema on Saturday? N-Noon, maybe?"

"Sure… I don't have anything planned that day…" I replied. And then, she hugged me tightly and ran off, nearly skipping. I guess I made her happy. I don't know. I never considered myself a very encouraging person, but I suppose everyone has to find their match in someone, right? Had I, in my first year of high school, found my match in Yuki Nagato, the timid little bibliophile that I could have just as easily overlooked had that one key event at the public library not occurred that brought our worlds together? Now, just so you, the reader, don't misunderstand, I'm not a romantic by any means. I don't believe in love at first sight, and I don't know anything about, nor did I care at that moment, about "forever and ever". But, I had a good feeling about Yuki… And although my "good feelings" have gotten me in trouble before, when I decided for the first time to talk to Haruhi, when I gave her the monologue that inspired her to create the SOS Brigade, when I so obediently went along with all of that little psycho's crazy schemes, I had decided at that moment that I should trust this good feeling. And so, I stood there slightly dazed, having accepted Yuki's request to see a movie with me on Saturday at high noon.

"Wow, Kyon." Came the voice that still scared the shit out of me sometimes. Ryoko Asakura, the "no longer psycho" class president, rated "AAA+" by Taniguchi at the beginning of the year.

"I was a bit nervous when you didn't answer at first…" Asakura said to me, smiling as she almost always did. "I was sure for a moment that you were going to reject poor little Yuki-chan. It took her months to work up enough courage to ask you out, you know. You really do mean that much to her, so I'll warn you again…" She said, her demeanor changing now to one of pure business. "If you're not serious about your relationship with Yuki-chan, back out now, for your own good. If you break Yuki-chan's heart, I'll make sure I break your body…" She continued, sounding really frightening now, advancing on me like a wildcat assessing its prey. For the moment, all I could think to do was be sarcastic. It seemed like I was best at that.

"I don't doubt it. You've already tried to kill me once. But were you aware that Yuki was so lonely?" I asked. At this, Asakura straightened up, and her expression became worried, rather than dangerous.

"I… I knew that she didn't have many friends, but I wasn't aware just how badly affected she was by that. Maybe I didn't see because I didn't want to look deep enough. She's slow to open up to people. I was no exception. She moved into the apartment below me three years ago…"

_Wow, even in this alternate reality, this "three years ago" plays an important role. Coincidence?_

"I still don't know why she suddenly moved in, or why she doesn't live with her parents, but for whatever reason, she's always been very isolated. I'm glad that she has friends like you and your little club. As strange as you are, I think she's enjoyed these past four months. So I say again, you better not hurt her."

"I won't." I replied. What else could I say, now? Whether Asakura believed me or not, I really did like Yuki, and was looking forward to our date on Saturday, even if I was a little nervous. I had never been on a date before. What did one say? Was I supposed to kiss her? Was that 'don't kiss 'till the third date' really valid? Maybe it was just one of those things friends told girls to keep them from moving too fast? Would Yuki think me rude if I tried to kiss her on our first date? I was loath to ask Koizumi for anything, but he was the only friend I had who had ever had a girlfriend. I did have his number, oddly, it was the same as his number in the alternate reality (go figure. It certainly would have been odd had I called him before we even met. "Uh hey, Koizumi, you don't know me, and technically, I only know you from an alternate reality…" Yeah, can you say stalker freak?

Nonetheless, I knew Koizumi had lied about being busy, or at least I was 90% sure that he had. He was good at lying with a straight face, so a 10% margin of error was pretty reasonable. So, I took out my cell and dialed him up.

"Itsuki Koizumi… What's up?" Came the voice on the other end. For a moment, my voice refused to come out.

"Hello? Are you there? Did I lose you?" He asked, still politely, but with that suspicious edge that he sometimes got in his voice.

"Hi. Sorry, Koizumi, it's just me." I replied, and I heard a laugh on the other side.

"Ah, Kyon. Sorry for the suspicion. I've been getting a lot of telemarketers lately. What can I do for you?" He asked, sounding rather earnest. It didn't suit him at all.

"Um…" I said, turning slightly pink. "I'm… I'm going on a date with Yuki on Saturday and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do…"

"Ah!" He replied. "It's about time you asked her out. I was starting to despair that you might never pop the question… Anyway, why are you asking me, Mr. Ladies Man? You seem to be quite good at getting the attention of attractive young women. I'd think you would already know what to do…"

"You know, your smug attitude pisses me off, but regardless, you're the only male friend I have who's ever had a girlfriend. What did you do on your first date with Haruhi?" I asked. On the other end, Koizumi sighed.

"Tut, tut. For one so seemingly talented with women, you sure are clueless. Going on a date with Miss Suzumiya probably wouldn't be anything like going on a date with Miss Nagato. Their personalities are so radically different that asking me what I did is like comparing apples and oranges."

"Please stop making fun of me." I said. I was really not in the mood to hear Koizumi subtly taunting me.

"Sorry. I couldn't resist a little bit. But in all seriousness, what are you planning to do with her?"

"We're going to the cinema…"

"Oh. Well, you don't need my advice, then. Just go in and enjoy the movie. She probably already has a movie in mind, so you don't have to worry about that. Just buy some popcorn and soda for the two of you and enjoy the movie. You know, I was suspicious of you earlier, but maybe I misjudged you. You're definitely a little eccentric, but you're not a bad person."

"Gee… Thanks…" I replied through gritted teeth. Eccentric, am I? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

The next day, Friday, passed obscenely slowly. Perhaps it was because I kept looking up at the clock. Perhaps it was because even as I was nervous, I was excited about going on a date. Even I, the eternally apathetic Kyon could get excited about something, and so, I was really tense all day. I wondered, should I ask Asakura a little bit about Yuki so that I could at least have some conversation topics on which to focus? It seemed rude to talk about Yuki when she wasn't present like that, but maybe if it would help the date go more smoothly, then it would be good for her as well? Was I only trying to justify my desire to find out about her the easy way, though? Regardless, my lack of attention to everything except the petite bibliophile didn't go unnoticed, and in last hour (finally!), the teacher smacked my desk with his ruler, snapping me rather alarmingly out of a daze.

"Kyosuke-san… Perhaps you could tell us how to conjugate 'to be' in English?" The teacher asked sternly. I thought for a minute. It was vaguely familiar. I wasn't as good at English as Haruhi was, but I figured I had no excuse not to try.

"I are, you am, he/she is. We are, you (formal) are, they are."

"Well, I suppose you didn't do as badly as you did on your last test, Kyosuke-san. But you reversed the conjugations of I and you. It's 'I am' and 'you are'. Try to pay closer attention."

"Yes, sir." I said and I sighed in relief. I had practically pulled that out of nothing. Bullshitting my way through a class usually didn't work, as evidenced by my grades when I didn't study. However, after what seemed like an age, class ended, and I was approached by none other than Ryoko Asakura, who smiled brightly at me, showing no indication of the rather frightening threats she had issued the previous evening.

"Nervous about your date?" She whispered in my ear, giggling at my reaction. I gulped and nodded.

"Don't be. I feel I hardly need to say that Yuki-chan is head over heels for you."

"S-speaking of Yuki…" I said tensely, trying to keep my voice down. "D-does she have interests other than books?"

Asakura cocked her head at me for a moment, then clicked her tongue, wagging her finger at me, in a teasingly scolding manner.

"What a strange thing to ask. Of course she has other interests. She likes… Oops. My bad… You'll have to find out for yourself, Kyon. Well, gotta go! Student Council awaits!" She then giggled again and jogged out of the classroom, at which point, Taniguchi and Kunikida, the _last_ two people I wanted to be stuck talking to walked over. Taniguchi naturally started with his usual dimwitted banter.

"Kyon, dude! I had no idea you were so close with Ryoko Asakura! How come you never told me!" He shouted, causing several of our classmates to look over at him in disapproval.

"I'm not close at all with her! She's just close with Yuki Nagato…" I said quietly, putting a finger to my lips to maybe make him be a bit quieter.

"Who?" He asked bluntly, so Kunikida leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and the idiot's eyes lit up, and he nodded in understanding.

"Right, the cute little literary club girl. But how would Nagato cause Ryoko Asakura to talk to you?"

Kunikida then leaned over again and spoke to Taniguchi, this time loud enough for me to hear.

"A friend of mine at the café down the road from Kouyouen told me that she heard Nagato asking Kyon on a date, and that he agreed." I couldn't believe that Kunikida of all people could have found out, but then, they did all go to school just up the hill from that café.

"H-how did you find out, Kunikida! And more, don't tell this guy!"

"Sorry, Kyon…" Kunikida said, shrugging. "You know he would've kept bugging you for an answer, though. And you know the waitress, too. She said she was a little put off that you didn't recognize her. You did sit behind her all second year in middle school, after all."

Suddenly, I remembered the girl. Although she had gotten a bit taller, it was true that she did look almost exactly the same. Even her hairdo was the same. I vaguely wondered how I didn't recognize her. Although it was true that being thrown into an alternate reality had thrown me off a bit, the seating arrangement in middle school hadn't changed. I had found out from declaring myself to be "John Smith" that certain things hadn't changed about the past, whatever that was, anymore

"Oh. Well, just… I know you naturally have a big mouth, Taniguchi, but try not to tell anyone! This is our first date, and I don't even know how it's going to go…"

"Oh, yeah, no problem…" (Famous last words)

And so, of course, by Monday, half the school knew that Yuki Nagato and I were dating, although the story of what happened was skewed a bit.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

As promised, I arrived at Yuki's apartment at 11:50 so that we'd have time to get down to the cinema before the movie started. I went up to her door and knocked, taking a deep breath to steady myself. Although I knew in my mind that this was nothing more than seeing a movie, and that I probably wasn't going to be expected to be able to do anything "mad awesome", somehow, it seemed like I had been in a daze all morning. I had let slip that I was going out with a girl, and had to deal with the ensuing teasing from my sister, the fussing from my mother, and the "facts of life" chat from my father, all of which I had to hurry through because I didn't want to be late.

After a moment, the door opened, but I didn't see the person I was expecting. Instead of timid little Yuki, it was Ryoko Asakura, who was nearly my height, and far more confident than I felt Yuki would ever be. She closed the door and gently took my hand, leading me down the hall a slight way before letting go and smiling at me. I knew that I didn't have much reason to worry, that her "Jenny the Homicidal Maniac Mode" didn't exist in this world. Still, though. That smile scared the hell out of me, more than any glare possibly could (even from Haruhi, and that was saying something).

"Hello, Prince Charming…" She said cheerfully, still smiling. "It's good that you're on time. Yuki-chan was worried that you weren't going to show up…"

_Is that supposed to be my fault!_

"Anyway, I was just here to help Yuki-chan get ready. I have to go to a track meet, today. Enjoy your date!"

With that, I went back toward the apartment with the distinct feeling that Asakura would most definitely know later if the date didn't go well, and that I would pay for it severely somewhere down the line. I walked into the apartment. It was a nice place with three rooms and a large window, definitely upper crust. As Brian from Family Guy would say, "whose leg do you have to hump to get a dry martini?" or in this case, a swanky apartment like this…

"Hey, Yuki…" I said, gulping. She wasn't wearing her school uniform, and in fact, she had completely dispensed with her usual look, wearing an adorable butterfly barrette in her hair and a lime green short sleeved shirt and a pink skirt.

"Wow…"

Upon hearing me say this, Yuki blushed, and turned away slightly, muttering something like, "I told Ryoko I looked terrible in this…"

Now that I was going on a date with Yuki, her self-consciousness showed more than ever.

"No. That's not it. You look really cute…" I said with a smile. The words seemed strange coming from my mouth, like someone else was saying them… It was weird. Even I was feeling a bit out of place. Granted, I hadn't thought to wear anything nice. I just wore my typical Saturday clothes, so maybe I was a little bit out of place.

"R-really! You really think so!" She asked me, her eyes lighting up. What did she think I was going to say? 'No, I was lying, you do look horrible?'

"Yeah. You look great. We should hurry up before all the good seats are taken…"

So far, the date was going pretty well. I was actually a little surprised that nothing had gone wrong yet. I had long since learned that when either Haruhi or I were involved, that something almost always went wrong. I really had to get that idea out of my head. After all, Haruhi wasn't "God" anymore. I took Yuki's hand in my own, and we walked out of the apartment, now being forced to run in order to get to the 1210h showing in time. Unlike the alien Yuki, who could run 8 laps ahead of everyone else (except Haruhi, who was running 10 laps ahead (2 ahead of Yuki, though I think that may have been intentional on Yuki's part, given her bogus magic)), this Yuki was physically quite weak, apparently, and even though I was helping pull her along, it probably would've been faster if I had simply carried her… Although that would have been embarrassing for both of us, so that's a no go.

"K-Kyon…!" She gasped, holding her hand over her heart and yanking her hand out of mine, stopping to try to catch her breath.

"Sorry, Yuki… Are you alright?" I asked. Maybe I could've just gotten to the apartment a bit earlier, but as my alarm clock went off ridiculously late (thanks to my sister, who thought it would be hilarious to turn it off), I didn't get there until 10 of, and now, we had 5 minutes until the movie started. Of course, I didn't blame Yuki. It would've been great if she still had the ability to teleport or whatever she did that one time, but no use crying over spilt milk… or something like that.

"S-sorry… Kyon…" She was still gasping. It would've been adorable if we weren't so late. Hell, who was I kidding? Everything about her was adorable.

"I-I'm fine…"

"Don't worry. Take your time…"

Seemingly ignoring me, though, Yuki straightened up, and ran ahead of me. Finally, we were moving again, but maybe, I thought, I should've ridden my bike. That would at least have been faster, and Yuki didn't weigh that much… She was tiny, even Asakura said she didn't eat much. After much running, we got to the movie. For me, the run hadn't been so bad. I was never great at sports, but somehow, I managed through the years. Yuki was a wreck, though. Her hair was flying all over the place, now, her glasses were askew, and she looked about ready to collapse. So, I bought our tickets and we went into the theater. Not having time, now to buy snacks, we went into the showing room, although I kind of wondered why a timid girl like Yuki wanted to see a movie like Invaders from Xoriat. I had seen the trailer for it. It was a sci-fi movie, but it looked kind of like one of those sci-fis that doubled as a horror film.

Needless to say, I was right. It didn't take long to notice that I was the only one having fun. It was true that I had wanted to see this movie, but not at someone else's expense. No, this would be Haruhi's idea of a good movie, weird brain devouring aliens with tentacles and slime covered maws that somehow slipped through a temporal-spatial rift from a dimension at the edge of reality. Yuki, however, seemed to have much more delicate sensibilities, and every explosion seemed to make her jump, every bloody, gore soaked death make her squirm. It was the kind of movie that a mean older brother in a movie would trick his little sister into seeing (before you say anything, yes, I have contemplated trying to get my sister, Hana to come to one of these movies. I've never felt mean enough to do it, though.) After one particularly brutal scene, in which the aliens, who had by that point taken over the entire region, were engaged in a positive orgy of brain devouring, heads being melted open by their acidic slime and the brains turning to slurry in their tooth filled maws, which ground them up with amazing slurping sounds so that some of the brain matter was dribbled back out down their front, I looked over and saw Yuki positively retch, and jump up and run out of the theater.

_Damn. I guess we should've left when I first noticed she was getting upset. Shit! Now I feel guilty, too…_ I thought, but I said nothing and simply moved my way out to the back door, where I found Yuki groaning, apparently having regurgitated her entire breakfast (meager though it probably was).

"Yuki! What happened?" As if I needed to ask. More than feeling I should have left when I first noticed, I should've realized that this couldn't possibly be the type of movie that would hold any appeal for Yuki.

"S-sorry, Kyon… I-I thought you would be h-happier at a horror f… ilm than a romance, or s-something boring like that…" She said… Now I felt even worse.

"Why don't you go to the bathroom and clean up a bit? I'll go get you something to drink. Do you have any preferences?"

Geez… Maybe my personality had changed too, when I entered this alternate reality. I know perfectly well that I used to be slightly pessimistic and sarcastic. Now, though, I'm still slightly sarcastic, but maybe my adventures with Haruhi have made me more positive? Who knows? Alien Yuki would've been able to explain it. Hell, even Esper Koizumi probably could've explained it. So I simply pondered this as I stood in line to buy some water for Yuki, who had said that water was about all she could hold down.

"Hey, there…" The girl at the counter said. You get thirsty halfway through the movie? I guess watching those aliens devouring brains does make you kind of thirsty… Ahaha!"

"No. My date just isn't feeling well. We're probably gonna leave.

"'zat her?" the girl asked rather informally. I looked over to see Yuki standing at the hallway, looking positively miserable, waiting for me. I kind of wondered if she thought I was planning to go back to the movie. I had considered it at first, but only for a moment. I could just come another time and see it on my own. I didn't have to continue to force Yuki to sit through it as well.

"Yep, that's her."

"She's cute… How'd you two hook up? You seem complete opposites." She said dully. I sighed, wondering the same thing. I really did like Yuki, but I couldn't deny that our personalities were extremely different.

"I dunno. I better get her home, though. I wouldn't like to think I didn't treat her well on our first date."

"You go, Romeo…" She said, giggling as I walked off and took Yuki's hand, leading her to the door. At first, she resisted me, and tried to walk back to the theater.

"I-it's alright, Kyon… I-I'm fine now. I just… d-didn't expect s-so much blood…" Yuki said, blushing fiercely in embarrassment.

"No way. Yuki, please just come home. I shouldn't have taken you to that movie. I-I wasn't thinking about you. I apologize…" I said. Again, apologizing felt weird, especially to Yuki, who I used to know as an icy cool android with few emotions, and even fewer expressions. I never needed to apologize to that Yuki. I wasn't complaining about the situation. It was just ironic that I was in it.

"Kyon, d-do you think we… c-could try having another date next weekend…?" She asked nervously, turning pink. "I-I mean, I know it's a lot to ask, given how terrible this date went, you probably don't want to! But…" She trailed off vaguely. I stopped and took her shoulders, turning her gently. It didn't take much to steer her small body around.

"Yuki…" I said seriously. "I already told you, it's my fault for taking you to that kind of movie without finding out what kind of movies you like first. I'll go on another date with you next Saturday, and the one after that, too, if possible."

"R-really! Y-you will! Thank you!" Yuki cried, jumping forward, surprising me, and kissing me before apparently realizing that we were still in public in the middle of the day, and she backed off, blushing furiously again.

_So cute! So cute!_

"D-do you want to come to my apartment for tea?" She asked nervously, like she still thought I might say "no". I wanted to do _something_ with Yuki that day, though… Or at least, something that didn't involve horrifying her beyond all reason.

"Yuki…" I said. I wasn't quite sure how to ask this. I wasn't even sure that Asakura would know the answer. She and Yuki were about as close as anyone was to Yuki, but as Asakura had said, she was slow to warm up to people. And so, again in this world, I was an anomaly, an uncertain factor, except that instead of affecting Haruhi, I was affecting Yuki. Coincidence? Ha! I stopped believing in coincidence a long time ago, sometime after I met Haruhi, and Koizumi explained that most things that seemed like coincidence, such as the fact that Haruhi just happened to track down an alien, time traveler, and esper to be in her club, was orchestrated subconsciously by Haruhi herself, because that was what she desired, even though she abjectly refused to believe that they were said classifications.

"What happened in the theater? Why did you get so upset?"

Yuki looked uncomfortable upon hearing me ask this. I suppose, though, that I would be uncomfortable as well if I was asked such a personal question.

"I-i-it's too embarrassing… Y-you'd laugh if you knew…" Yuki muttered timidly.

"What? No I wouldn't…" I had heard a lot of ridiculous things. Things that defied all logic, and yet were no laughing matter. Nothing Yuki could say now could possibly make me laugh at her.

"W-well… I-it's just… I'm terrified of blood!" She said a bit too loudly, maybe she wanted to say it before she could stop herself. What was most surprising was that I wasn't surprised. I could see someone like Yuki being scared of blood. A lot of people were. It was a fairly common phobia.

"I'm really sorry I took you to that movie, Yuki… But… We're here…" I said pointing to her apartment. I wasn't sure why I was apologizing. It was Yuki that suggested that we see Invaders from Xoriat, although even at the time, I thought it was a little bit odd, but Yuki had always been into science fiction, so I thought that maybe she liked that kind of movie.

"Kyon? Yuki-chan?" Came a voice from Yuki's door. It was Ryoko Asakura again. She sure did seem to pop up everywhere.

"You're done already? That was a short movie. Which one did you see?" She asked politely.

"P-please don't ask…" Yuki pleaded, taking the key out of her pocket and opening the door to her apartment. I followed her inside. The heated table wasn't there anymore, replaced by a normal table in the center of the room, and on the left wall, there was a large bookshelf. It was a tidy apartment, neater than my room, anyhow.

"Hold on, Kyon… I promise I'll give him back to you in a moment, Yuki-chan…" She said with a cheerful smile, leading me outside again and shutting the door.

"Which movie did you see? She doesn't look very well."

"Invaders from Xoriat…" I said simply, trying to sound like I wasn't more than a little ashamed to say that. It seemed that Asakura was extremely perceptive, though.

"Tut tut. I was hoping that you'd have been able to talk her out of seeing that one. She was convinced that it was the movie you'd want to see. So what happened?"

"She got sick in the middle of the movie and we left. She told me that blood scared her. Do you know anything about that?"

"I know she only gave you the condensed version of it. Blood, violence, sudden noises. She's kind of jumpy. I'm happy you're trying, though! Maybe you'll be able to crack her open a bit more than I have, though. Even though I've known her for three years, I don't know very much about her, except that she's never shown this much interest in anyone. Please don't give up on her?" Asakura said. And this time, unlike her usual tone, which was very 'in control', she sounded like she truly was requesting this of me. Not a threat, not a suggestion or an order… An honest, earnest request. If Asakura acted like this more often around me, maybe I wouldn't be so scared shitless of her.

"Just promise you won't kill me…" I said, smiling placatingly. "You already tried once, and you damn near succeeded before… a-a friend… managed to delete you. I don't doubt that this supposedly normal 'you' would be any less capable of killing me…"

Ryoko Asakura stared at me blankly for a moment, then laughed brightly. Her laughter was nearly contagious. The charisma and confidence that she exuded was ever present, and she drew others into her line of thinking. That was why she was class president. I remember that other people ran, but none even came close to her. She got 78% of the votes in the class. It was a record high at North High. Finally, though, she stopped laughing, and looked at me with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

"You really must not think much of me, Kyon…" She giggled. "I have no intention of hurting you. I don't know whether I believe that you're from an alternate reality. I suppose that it's possible, but then, what happened to the original "you" of this reality? Perhaps he didn't exist? But then why do I remember so clearly "you" introducing yourself at the beginning of the year? Why do I remember so plainly Yuki-chan coming back to her apartment to tell me about the extraordinarily kind boy who had helped her fill out the papers for a library card? There are a lot of things about your story that could be explained through the simple possibility of temporal-spatial alterations. Perhaps when "you" were thrown into this world, the original "you" was replaced, or maybe the original "you" never really existed, and all my memories of "you" are either fake, or actually contrived of those of the current "you". Regardless, your rather eccentric approach seems to be good for Yuki-chan, so I do hope that you'll continue to give her a chance, even after the supposed disaster that happened today…"

What could I possibly say to such a humble request? I couldn't refuse Asakura, now, and even if I could, I was long past being able to refuse Yuki. Instead of saying all that, though, I nodded briefly, and walked past Asakura, bowing in thanks to her, recognizing that she had through her questioning and pondering told me a small bit about Yuki. I really did feel like I was getting somewhere. The small bibliophile was a tough nut to crack. Why was _this_ Yuki so involved with books? Did she just prefer them to people? And if so, why?

"Hey, Yuki…"

Before I could continue, though, Yuki turned bright red and began shouting at me. "I'm so sorry I ruined our date! I just wanted to go to a movie that you would like! I… I…"

"Stop… I-I mean, hold on a second, please. You didn't ruin our date. I'm happy I was able to go out with you today. Please stop apologizing. It wasn't your fault this happened." I was trying to be nice about all this… Honestly, I think I failed. "What I really wish is that you hadn't tried to force yourself to watch a movie you knew was going to upset you so badly…"

"But…"

"I know. You thought I wouldn't want to see a romance. It didn't really matter to me what movie we saw. I was just excited that I was able to go on a date with you, Yuki…" I said, turning slightly pink, though I hoped that she didn't notice.

Before I knew what was happening, Yuki had thrown her arms around my middle, and kissed me, before pulling away, looking rather horrified at what she, herself had just done.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I just…"

"D-don't mention it…" I said vaguely. I couldn't complain that I was getting my first kiss so soon after we had started dating."

For a moment, Yuki looked like she had something to say, but was afraid to say it. I wished I could somehow convey to her that she could tell me anything, but I wasn't sure if she'd believe me. I don't think she thinks I would lie to her, but she sort of seems like the type to keep her feelings hidden. Finally, after sitting there for a few more minutes, she squeaked, and then spoke.

"K-Kyon? If I tell you a secret, d-do you promise not to tell anyone?" She asked, looking more nervous than ever. I nodded blankly, and she took a deep breath.

"Th-that day back in late December, the day you burst into the Literary C-club room, I… Y-you saved my life that day… A-and I never knew how to thank you after that, because I knew for sure that nothing I said would ever be enough."

"What? W-what do you mean?" I asked breathlessly, my heart caught in my throat. Yuki looked like she was about to cry again.

"I-if I tell you this, you can't tell _anyone_!" She said forcefully. "E-especially not Ryoko! I-I just know she… she would hate me if I told her the truth!" Yuki sobbed, choking on her tears. For a moment, I just held Yuki, standing there. Then, I pulled her down into a sitting position. Maybe we would be more comfortable that way. I couldn't be sure. But it couldn't hurt.

"I promise I won't tell anyone, Yuki-chan…"

_Great! Now I'm getting in the habit of calling her Yuki-chan!_

"You need a little bit of history to understand my story. I hope you don't mind…" She said, taking a deep breath and looking hopefully at me.

"Of course not. Take as long as you need." I said. I hope I was being supportive. She seemed like she really needed it.

"It was about three years ago, I guess that my parents were killed. The police told me that someone had been stalking me, and murdered them when they refused to let him see me. I don't think they've found him yet. But since most of my family lives in China, Korea, and ironically, Canada…"

_You have no idea how ironic that is, Yuki-chan._

"They didn't want to move me out of country, so I was moved here, and am supported by my aunt from my mother's side. I kind of lost control of myself after my parents' deaths, and refused to talk to anyone, although I knew I still could talk if I wanted to. I wanted to see them again, if only to apologize for getting them killed. If I had known that… all the man wanted was to talk to me, I would've done it!" She said, grabbing me, her eyes taking on almost a mad shine. "Back four months ago, though, I had just entered high school, and I wasn't making any more friends than I had in middle school. I had decided that December 18th was the night. I was finally going to be with my parents again. I was going to leave school as soon as I finished that last book, and get home before Ryoko got there, and be dead by the time she brought dinner over. I was about ten minutes from finishing my book when you burst in. You were a little bit scary at first, but I wondered if maybe someone was trying to tell me that I wasn't allowed to die yet. I asked if you would come back the next day, not really expecting you to say yes. But you did, so I waited for you, and you did. Then on the third day, you brought a bunch of other people with you. It seemed like there were finally people that I could talk to. Then, I thought of my parents and what wonderful people they were. I was sure that they wouldn't have wanted me to give up. So… I-I owe you my life. But how do I pay back something so incredible?" Yuki asked, looking a little bit worried. For a moment, my hold on her slackened, but then, I pulled her tighter. Even I wasn't sure exactly what I was doing. I only knew that if I didn't do anything, that something would be over.

"Yuki-chan… You don't owe me anything…" I said quietly. "Even if I had known what I was doing, I still would say the same thing. You may not remember, but the other you has saved me countless times. You saved me from a deranged alien, from a malicious computer program made reality… and probably a few other things that I can't remember at the moment…"

For a moment, Yuki didn't say anything, but then, her face cracked into a smile, and she giggled. "Y-you're strange…" She said. I couldn't argue with that. What else could one call me but strange. I bent over, and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Just promise me one thing, Yuki-chan…"

"Anything!" She said, smiling eagerly. "I know I promised not to tell anyone…" Her smile fell, and she looked frightened for a moment. "And I stand by that. But one person that shouldn't be kept in the dark is Asakura. I said I wouldn't tell her…" I said, interrupting Yuki before she could speak. "But… I think you _should_ tell her. She cares about you, Yuki-chan. She's been helping you and caring about you for three years. I think you at least owe her the truth."

"W-will you come with me when I tell her?"

"Of course. You have to be the one to tell her, though."

"S-sure…" Yuki said, smiling brightly at me. It was a truly radiant smile, not one of her typical shy, or lonely smiles. I think that was what led me to do it. I cupped her cheek in my hand and slowly, kissed her. That was when I found out that the whole "3rd date" thing… is bullshit. Granted, there were certainly extraordinary circumstances on my first date… and what a first date it had been. It made me wonder how things ended up going so fast. Only two days ago, she was still nervous about asking me out, I would imagine, and today, we've kissed, she's told me her darkest secret, and we're closer than some people probably are after their tenth date. But alas, such is life when you've come from an alternate reality… or something.

"_Kyon… Kyon…" Came a vaguely familiar voice. Was I dreaming? I hadn't heard that voice in months and months. It was just what I had wanted to hear back in December, but now, I wasn't so sure it was a good thing._

"_Nagato?" I asked in astonishment, and surely enough, as soon as I said that, the stoic alien appeared before me, without the glasses, and without the typical timid look on her face._

"_Yes, I am the old Nagato, as you have been calling me. I programmed myself into your memories, despite the fact that I was anomalous just in the event that you decided that you liked this life better."_

"_So… It was you that created this world, then?" I asked, shocked to hear that Nagato could do something like that… I mean physically, or magically do something like that. It seemed only in the realm of possibility for Haruhi. However, I suppose she has some complex explanation for how it happened._

"_Yes, I suppose you could say that I 'created' this world. A serious error had affected me, and I had become severely anomalous, and thus, I was prompted to 'borrow' some of Suzumiya's powers and alter the entire world so that Suzumiya Haruhi as you knew her at the time was never born. I could not completely erase anyone from existence. I could only alter their data feeds so that they appeared in different aspects. Thus, Ryoko Asakura was reborn, and I became the way you know me to be now."_

"_Okay, I didn't understand any of that. But why would you give your alternate self such a horrible past! Your parents were murdered by a mad stalker! Seriously!"_

"_My data feed was severely malfunctioning when I created this world, however, some of the blame does indeed lie with me. I created a past that would support the 'me' that you once knew. As I did not have parents, I could not have parents as my alternate self… Is what I was thinking."_

"_Then, you intentionally made the current Yuki so painfully shy?"_

"_I do not understand the fundamental concepts of 'extroversion' and 'confidence'. And so, I created a version of 'me' that conformed to my own self image."_

_ Damn… That's sort of a downer… I can't believe Nagato can say that with a straight face._

"_But… I did not enter your dream tonight to discuss why I did what I did. I…" She hesitated, looking nervous, bringing her thumb up to her mouth in an almost normal display of hesitance. "I wanted to… to thank you."_

"_Thank me? For what? We, you know, the rest of the SOS Brigade are the ones that drove you to this 'state of anomaly', or whatever you called it…"_

"_No. Thank you for being so kind to my alternate self. There was a reason that she was going to commit suicide on the night that you burst into the Literary Club room. The aftershocks of the data quake that I had created had not quite settled yet, and my alternate self was still not stable. Because she was unstable, she was prone to anomalies, similar to the way I was. Her data feed was in danger of disappearing, and thus, only needed a good story to cover its sudden disappearance, or death, as humans call it. I cannot quite confirm how your presence stabilized her, but the shock that you induced in my alternate self when you slammed open the door forced her into stabilization."_

"_Yeah… Nagato, none of that made any sense to me. You might as well have been speaking in Greek…"_

"_But I was not programmed to speak Greek…" She said blankly. I sighed. She didn't get the expression. Not that I was surprised. I suppose I shouldn't have bothered with something like that._

"_I cannot stay any longer. It takes a great deal of energy to appear in your dreams at all. Do not expect me again, though circumstances may permit me to visit you again one day."_

"_I'll look forward to that then…"_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Monday was a strange day for both Yuki, and for me. Although we were in different classes, our classmates had heard a lot of the same rumors, spread, no doubt, by that dipshit Taniguchi… Damn! I'm gonna kill him when next I get the chance. My day started pretty normally. I headed down to Yuki's apartment, where I met her outside, and we got on the train together to go to school, then walked up the hill, past Kouyouen Academy, where we said hello to Haruhi. She seemed in a bad mood that day, and Koizumi wasn't with her. I could only assume that meant that she had finally broken up with him. Of course, I was a little surprised, not that she broke up with him, she did that eventually with every guy, apparently, but that Koizumi lasted a whopping four months, when the next longest relationship she had had been a week long, and the shortest had been five minutes, the prize for which goes to my dear departed friend, Taniguchi. Before I kill him, I'll have to make sure to rub that in his face somehow. Let me tell you, he deserves everything he gets.

Haruhi scowled at me and if I didn't know any better, I would've sworn that she made a pretty rude hand gesture at Yuki-chan. They had always gotten along well in the past. What would be the reason for such a sudden change? Yuki-chan seemed slightly thrown off by it, too, and she timidly tried to smile at Haruhi. I'll never tell Yuki this, but, it looked a lot more like a grimace, especially with the way she cringed when she tried. I admire her for attempting it, but I felt a little sorry for her at the same time.

Once we got up to school was when I really noticed people staring at us. Whispering and laughter seemed to be going on a lot more than usual. Naturally, as we were going to opposite sides of the school, Yuki and I split up at the front door, and I went right, and she went left. Some way down the hall, I ran into Tsuruya, who actually grinned at me, displaying her prominent sharp tooth that always gave her something of a lisp.  
>"Hiya, Kyon!" She said brightly, clapping me rather hard on the back. I gasped as the wind was driven from my lungs.<p>

"So…" She continued loudly. "I hear that you and that Yuki Nagato girl are going out!" I should've known on Friday that bigmouth, Taniguchi couldn't keep a secret.

"Oh?" I asked through gritted teeth. "And who, pray tell, told you that?"

"Oh, shoot! Now I forgot his name. Tanizawa… Tamagatchi? No, that's not right…" She said, now looking lost in thought.

"Taniguchi?" I suggested. Her eyes lit up at this. "Yeah! He's the one! He said you two are already pretty hot and heavy! Ahahahahahahaha! What a stud, Kyon!" And just like that, if anyone hadn't known before, they did now, or would by the end of the day.

"Shh! Not so loud! We most certainly are _not_ 'hot and heavy'! We just went to see a movie!" I whispered.

"Really? What movie did you see?" She asked, now sounding curious rather than amused.

"Y-you don't wanna know…" I said, turning crimson at the memory of this.

"Hell, yeah, I do!" She said, giving me a peace sign. I sighed and said, "Invaders From Xoriat…" Preparing myself for the inevitable scolding that I was about to get from both Asahina and Tsuruya. Instead, Tsuruya just started laughing.

"Ahahahahahahahahaha! *Pfft* _Wow_, Kyon…" She said sarcastically. "You know, for one so popular with the girls, you sure are stupid… *Pfft*! H-how'd it go?"

"Not well." I said somewhat irately. It still was a little bit irritating to remember that _Yuki_ had been the one to suggest the movie, but I was the one who ended up being blamed. I sort of understood her reasoning, after she had explained it to me, but I kind of feel like she should have thought a little bit more of me than to believe that I would judge her on her taste in movies. Granted, romantic comedies aren't my cup of tea, but I've sat through them with my sister and my parents, I could sit through one again if it meant making Yuki happy. Oh well, you win some, you lose some, right? "It turns out Yuki-chan is severely phobic about blood… I suppose I should've known Xoriat was a bad recommendation…" I sighed. This time, Tsuruya looked sympathetic, though, and she put a hand on my shoulder.

"Ah, well! Shit happens! See ya' later!" She said loudly, walking off with Asahina in tow.

Yeah. Shit does happen. Like seeing an old version of Nagato in my dreams, or finding out that the one who made Yuki's past so miserable was Nagato herself. At the time, I had wanted to punch Nagato in the face… Trust me, she wouldn't be that badly hurt, considering she could stand being impaled by a dozen spikes. But now, I sort of understand. Having been created artificially, she probably didn't understand 'feelings' and 'emotions' very well. So she mimicked them as best she could while creating 'Yuki' and 'Ryoko' in this world, but could only manipulate them to a minor degree… Or something like that. Somehow, my waking hours during the day had wielded seamlessly into daydreams, because I barely remember sitting down in class, as I was already fairly preoccupied, and then, slowly, my mind slipped away into my thoughts, and I was asleep under torpor inducing scent of spring and the warm sun on my 85% polyester uniform.

CRACK! "GAAHH!" I yelped as a yardstick slammed down on my desk. I had apparently been spacing out. Hearing the laughter issuing from the rest of the class was bad enough, but I looked behind me and saw Asakura grinning at me as well… Or maybe it was just my imagination.

"Kyosuke-san… Perhaps you could explain to the class what happens when you mix Sodium and Nitrogen and heat to boiling?"

"Um… Sorry, sir…" I muttered. The teacher then tapped me on the head with his yardstick and told me to pay attention. I suppose I could've gotten worse.

After school, I got together with Yuki, we kissed briefly in the clubroom where nobody could see us (at Yuki's insistence), and went down to the café, where we met up with Haruhi, Miss Asahina, and Tsuruya. As we sat down, I definitely noticed the vacancy where Koizumi used to sit.

"Hey, Haruhi…" I said, fearing I already knew the answer before I asked. "Yeah, John?" She said, glaring at me, and then at Yuki, who shrank back nervously, cowering behind me.

"What happened to Koizumi? Aren't you two usually together?"

"After you told us that Itsuki was an esper in an alternate world, I thought maybe his powers would come out if given time, but he's just so boring, and his powers never came… so I dumped him." She said bluntly. At this, I could only sigh. Yep. That was the Haruhi I knew… Couldn't keep her attention for longer than a week if you were normal.

"He didn't even give an interesting response when I broke up with him! 'I see… Okay, then…' is all he said! Boring! The one I'm really interested in is you, John…" Haruhi said, leaning on the table and blinking her eyelashes rapidly. I noticed Yuki next to me stiffen and look away from her. What was I supposed to say to Haruhi in a situation like this? 'Sorry, I'm already taken'? I suppose it wouldn't have any adverse side effects like it might have in the other world. All the same, though, I don't want to hurt the girl's feelings… She may not be able to destroy the world, but that doesn't make it alright to upset her. The problem was… Whether it was this Haruhi or God Haruhi, she was the type to make a scene if she didn't get what she wanted.

"Well!" Haruhi demanded, grabbing my shoulder. Meanwhile, Yuki looked mortified, Tsuruya was tense and leaning in to hear what was about to happen and Mikuru was slowly sliding back from the rest of us, looking ready to bolt at any moment.

"What do you think of me!" The girl, still in her uniform ordered, squeezing my shoulder, making me certain that I heard something pop.

"H-Haruhi… Ouch! I-I can't return your… feelings…" I groaned, finally pulling myself out of her viselike grip, partially because her hand slackened slightly. "Phew… I'm sorry, Haruhi. It's just…"

"It's Nagato, isn't it?" She asked quietly with a scowl, crossing her arms and snorting. I nodded weakly. She snorted again and then said, "Fine! I understand! Just know, Yuki, that if you hurt him, it's the DEATH PENALTY!" She snapped. "I have to go home to finish my homework!" She muttered darkly, standing up and throwing a few bills on the table to pay for her food before storming out.

I looked around the table from one girl to the next, all of whom were wearing looks of shock on their faces. What were they so surprised about? They knew that I liked Yuki-chan, right? They all knew she and I were going out! Tsuruya even made fun of me for the movie that we went to!

"What! Do I have a spot on my face!"

"W-well, no… Nyoron… It's just… I didn't expect you to reject her so easily…" Tsuruya said, half smirking.

"What the hell do you mean! I'm already dating Yuki-chan! I couldn't go out with Haruhi, too!"

Yuki looked at me, now, tears flooding those amber colored eyes of hers. They were positively radiant when they were sparkling in the light like that. After a moment, she threw her arms around me. Did she think I was going to just forget about her, too! What kind of person do these girls take me for?

"Hey, Yuki… Would you like to come to my house tonight? I've been to your place a few times, but you've never been to my house."

"Well, alright… You two lovebirds h-have fun… Don't do anything I wouldn't do…" Tsuruya said, grabbing Mikuru's hand and pulling her along after paying their bit of the bill. I also took some money out of my pocket and put it on the table, then took Yuki's hand and led her out.

When I got home with Yuki, everyone seemed quite surprised to see her, none more so than my sister, Hana, who just had to march up to Yuki and stare at her for a moment or two.

"Wow! What's your name! Do you go to school with Kyon-kun? What grade are you in? Have you two kissed yet? How'd you meet? Are you in the same class? What about…"

"Hana-chan!" I said suddenly, putting a hand up to her mouth to stop her from bombarding Yuki with questions, who looked somewhat shaken by all the questions she was being asked.

"Stop! Save your questions for later… And do try to keep them appropriate…" My sister was never known for her tact, so sometimes, we just had to remind her to keep it polite.

"Sorry… What's your name!" She asked, immediately after apologizing.

"Yuki Nagato…" Yuki answered quietly, giving my sister a small smile.

"Come on, Hana-chan… Don't bother Yuki anymore…" My mom said, pulling my sister away. With that, the two of us went up to my room and shut the door. I did still have some homework to do, but that could wait until later. I looked around my room briefly and sighed. Compared to Nagato's immaculately clean apartment, my room was a disaster. Clothes on the floor, books out of place, etc… Then, I noticed it, porn magazines. I quickly ran over to the corner and threw them in the closet, slamming the door before Yuki could notice them.

To be honest, it seemed like fun to have Yuki over, but now that she was here, I had no idea what to do. Did she play video games? What kind of programs did she like to watch? I invited her over, but with no idea of what to do. Fortunately, fate seems to work out in my favor sometimes as well, because when Yuki looked at my video game rack, she noticed that I had DDR, and her eyes lit up.

"D-do you mind if we play Dance Dance Revolution?" She asked nervously. At this, I couldn't help but laugh, imagining little Yuki dancing. She seemed to think I was laughing at her, though, because she blushed deeply and muttered a rather timid apology.

"No, i-it's not that, Yuki-chan…" I said, smiling placatingly. "I just didn't realize you liked dancing…"

"W-well, I play a lot with Ryoko, so I've kind of gotten into it." She said in a near whisper. I smiled at this, and walked over, getting out the X-Box and putting in Dance Dance Revolution. Now, as it turns out, Yuki was exceptionally talented at this game, something I never would have guessed of her. As she slipped off her socks to avoid slipping, and we got on our respective dance mats, her shyness and insecurity seemed to melt away, and out of that timid little shell bloomed an upbeat, bright, and cheerful girl. I was pretty good at this game from having played for years against my friends, my sister, pretty much anyone who was willing to play… Yuki was on a whole different level, though. Even though she was playing Insane, she didn't miss a single beat. Her feet glided over the arrows with an agility that I never would have thought possible of this Yuki. Although her face shone with sweat, and she was breathing heavily, I had never seen her having this much fun, or smiling this brightly.

In this way, we spent hours together, laughing and having fun until I realized that it was late… and I mean late late… like 2200h (10:00 pm) late, so finally, I stopped and told Yuki that it was quite late, at which point she jumped and began apologizing to me again, making me feel a little bit bad that I had told her… However, I got my shoes on and went outside to walk her home, as it wouldn't do at all, especially with Asakura around, to let it get around that she spent the night at my house. So, I pulled my shoes on, and we walked out of the house and back to Yuki's apartment. It wasn't a long walk to her door, but it was hardly short, so by the time I got her to her apartment door, kissed her goodnight and left, it was already 2245h.

To my great surprise, outside the apartment, Haruhi Suzumiya (the one and only) was waiting for me, and fell into step with me as I walked back to my house. I turned to her and tried to smile, but it didn't come out as well as I would have hoped, because she merely scowled back.

"John… I'm not here to convince you to date me instead of Yuki… Just wanted you to know that first…" She said, and though she was scowling irately, I could tell she was being sincere. So that left the question… Why was she here? She answered that next.

"No. I'm here because I want to know something. You haven't told me, nor have you told anyone, most likely, why, if you were going to stay in this alternate reality, anyhow, did you reassemble what you call the SOS Brigade? Why chase me down all the way to Kouyouen Academy, declare yourself to be John Smith, and then bring us back to your school? Was it just for the sake of continuity between worlds, or did you have some other purpose?"

"No, it was partially continuity, I suppose. Everyone else besides Yuki-chan didn't even know who I was, or rather, everyone who mattered… Even Yuki's memories had been altered so that there was nothing in there about being an alien. You and Koizumi were my last beacon of hope. I was going mad, realizing that overnight the entire world had changed around me and I was the only one who saw it for what it was. Taniguchi told me that you had gone on to Kouyouen Prep school, so I headed there as fast as I could, and waited for you. When I saw you, and you didn't recognize me, I was disappointed, but I wondered… Perhaps only significant events up to and following all of our entries into high school and the formation of the SOS Brigade were altered. It was only a vague hypothesis, but it was worth a try, so I called out and told you that I was John Smith. I guess it was just luck that it worked. Nothing else had, it was a last ditch effort… And as for why I did it even though I ultimately decided to stay, when the program started up on the literary club computer, it asked if I wanted to repair the flow of time. I thought about it. Life had been fun in a way as a member of that insane group, going on mad adventures on a whim, but I was eager to return to a normal life. I just didn't know it yet when I told you about Hikoboshi."

"Wow. That was long winded, John. I'm glad you did find me, though… Maybe it's a good thing."

"Sorry, Haruhi… Not to sound rude, but if my family sees me walking home with a different girl than I took out of the house, they'll ask weird questions… So, would you like me to take you home…?"

"No. I can take care of myself. I kicked your ass, remember?" Haruhi said with a superior smirk. I sighed.

"Yes, but that isn't really saying much. But whatever, goodnight… Should we expect you at the café tomorrow?"

"Maybe… I'm not sure… It's awkward, now, you know? With you and Yuki together, what're the rest of us supposed to do?"

"It was never a problem when you and Koizumi were together…" I replied blankly. Her logic was a bit self serving and weak, but for Haruhi, logic had never mattered. She owed no explanation… Ever… To anyone.

"That's different! Kozumi and I were on totally different planes of existence! It was doomed to failure from the beginning…"

"Then why did you agree to go out with him?" I asked, getting frustrated with Haruhi's egocentricity. Even this alternate her could be infuriating sometimes. I didn't even like Koizumi, and I felt bad for him. I could honestly say that I assumed ¾ of the guys that asked Haruhi out in middle school were going for looks alone. So on that front, good luck and good-bye… I can't pretend to feel too bad for idiots who can't look past external appearances. However, Koizumi was different than all those guys in middle school. He may have been smug, condescending, and irritating in the extreme, but one accusation you couldn't make about him was shallowness… And yet, here Haruhi was, fallen back into her same goddamn pattern of treating boys like toys, to be picked up and then tossed out when she was bored! Koizumi really liked Haruhi, and for all she noticed, he might as well have been talking to a brick wall…

"Cuz he was a transfer student. I thought maybe something interesting would happen… Something interesting did happen, too, when you came… But even then he proved to be just as boring as ever."

"Oh…"

I know… It sounded stupid, but it was all I could think of to say. What else could I say, though, to someone as thickheaded as Haruhi. She'd probably figure it out someday, even if left to her own devices. So, for the time, I merely said goodbye and walked back to my door, entering the house. Noting that my sister and parents had gone to bed, I went quietly back to my room and started on my homework. Needless to say, it was almost 0100h before I finished, and the alarm rang all too soon the next morning.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

The next day, I walked to school alone, though I ran into Taniguchi along the way. For a moment, I wasn't even thinking about Monday, but then I remembered that he had been the one to tell everyone that Yuki and I were going out. Yuki had told me that everyone in her class was talking to her about it as well. She even sounded a little upset by the whole thing. After all, high school kids as a general population were far too interested in everyone else's affairs. We're shallow, capricious and easily bored. I suggested that Yuki-chan simply sit in the back of the classroom, but she already did that, anyhow. She had chosen her seat in the back of the room closest to the window, and despite sitting there, she was still at the top of her class. It sort of makes me wonder why Nagato didn't put Yuki in Kouyouen as well… But then it might have been impossible for me to restore the normal order… I decided not to, but had I wanted to, if there was nobody that could assist me, even unwittingly, then I wouldn't have stood a chance.

And frankly, I'm glad that she goes to the same school as me. Were she anywhere else, I wouldn't get to see her every day like I do. Oh, and for some reason, that reminded me… I still had to give Taniguchi a piece of my mind.

"Get back here you asshole!" I shouted, grabbing hold of Taniguchi's shoulder and turning him around.

"What's up, Kyon, old buddy?"

"Don't give me that! You told everyone that Yuki and I were going on a date! We were _trying_ to keep it a little quiet…"

"Eh, why bother doing that? It was gonna get out eventually, anyhow. You know how it is at our school. A secret never stays such for more than a few hours. Besides, I wasn't even the one who told most of the school. It just sort of spread on its own. Besides, it's not like you two are in trouble or anything…"

I wasn't really sure if I should explain to him that Yuki, unlike him was kind of shy, and might not want that kind of attention… That the people talking to her now were bothering her. Honestly, though, what's there really to talk about? It's not like I play soccer, or she's a cheerleader or anything… Not that she couldn't be a cheerleader if she wanted to be… She's definitely cute enough… And I can be fairly sure that she would look killer in a cheerleader outfit… But you'd think that people had better things to do than gossip about two normal people like us… Their lives must be pretty boring.

"Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?" I groaned as Ryoko Asakura approached me, and smiled brightly.

"Hey, Kyon… Yuki-chan is feeling better today… She said she had a lot of fun playing dance dance revolution with you…! I never knew you were into video games like that…!"

"I never would've guessed that you and Yuki-chan were into that kind of thing, either… Sorry, but you don't seem the type, Asakura… But especially Yuki…"

"Yeah… Well, I play to keep up my cardio in the winter… I invited Yuki-chan to join me one day, and she had so much fun that she kept on playing almost every night after that. It slowed down after a while. I heard you didn't stop till pretty late. Do try not to fall asleep in class again…"

With that, Asakura ran off up the hill, keeping incredible time for someone who was supposedly only an average girl. Maybe there was something wrong with the rewrite, and Asakura got some superhuman abilities? I couldn't say. All I knew was it was a warm day, and the breeze in the air was as pleasant as the day before, bringing with it the smells of early spring, and the sense of indolence that can only be attributed to this time of year, especially when sitting in a classroom with lousy heating so that one room is boiling and the next room is freezing… That was what brought me to 1st hour, gym class. Damn, I hated it. It was the hour I hated the most out of the entire day. I was lousy at sports, and now that the weather was nice, we were going outside more often and running the track, playing tennis, soccer, baseball, etc… It was horrible. I still had the sense of tiredness that came from lack of sleep combined with spring fever, and the lack of athletic ability that came from being completely lazy. Mixed together? They spelled disaster… Especially when I got hit in the head with the baseball, and felt stars bursting in my field of vision before I fell over.

Fortunately, none of us were professionals, and although the ball had been hit pretty hard, it didn't fly straight at me, but rather fell on my head. However, I was told to go to the nurse, and I felt somewhat lucky that this meant that I wouldn't have to participate anymore in gym that day. Perhaps I could get out of second hour mathematics as well, but I wasn't feeling hopeful on that front.

Sure enough, just as the bell rang, the nurse told me I was fine and said I should go to class. The rest of the day was extraordinary only in its utter lack of anything interesting happening. By the end of the day, I was itching to get out of school and go over to the Literary Club room. As I walked in, though, I saw Ryoko Asakura talking to Yuki, and I flinched slightly. Damn, would I never get used to her _not_ being a homicidal maniac?

"You still flinch every time you see me… Are you sure you're alright, Kyon?" Asakura asked, looking up and smiling brightly at me. Truth be told, I hated that smile. I always associated it with the day she tried to murder me… Which she also did with a cheerful, friendly smile on her face. It hadn't been that she hated me. She just wanted to kill me to force a reaction from Haruhi. It was strictly scientific.

"Are you _absolutely sure_ you've never wanted to murder me, Asakura?" I asked stupidly, knowing full well that nobody in their right mind would ever actually admit to wanting to murder someone else. Sure enough, Asakura looked at me blankly, then at Yuki, and shrugged.

"Is this about the world you supposedly came from where Yuki-chan and I were aliens?" Asakura asked. I knew she was just humoring me, though… I have to say, even if she didn't mean to, it was a little irritating being patronized like that.

"Yeah… I know, it sounds completely ridiculous…"

"No, it's not that… Come with me a moment… I promise I won't hurt him too badly, Yuki-chan…" Asakura said, dragging me along behind her. As she shut the door, she immediately began talking.

"You see, I'm immensely jealous of your relationship with Yuki-chan, so if it seems like I bear you ill will, that might be the reason why…" Asakura said. "I know I'll never be able to take your place in her life, though, so I've tried to help her show her true feelings to you as much as I can get her to."

"Hm… And why are you telling me this. This seems more like the kind of conversation you should have with Yuki. It doesn't really bother me whether you like or hate me. But if you love Yuki-chan, then you should tell her so. I never would've pegged you as the timid type…" I said bluntly. At this, Asakura actually blushed slightly. It didn't suit her at all. Maybe a little bit of blood on her cheek to play up the perfect Yandere, but not a blush.

"I can't tell her something like that. I'm happy with us being friends like we are."

"If you really are such good friends you should be able to tell her anything without it affecting your friendship. You say you two are best friends. Now's the time to test that theory… Unless you're afraid to do so…" I know, it's kind of harsh to say something like that. Normally I wouldn't encourage someone else to confess to someone _I'm_ going out with already, but this is Asakura we're talking about. I'm not worried.

"You know, you're smarter than I gave you credit for… Your test grades don't reflect your ability at all…" Asakura said with a smile. I smiled back at her and walked back into the Literary Clubroom, and walked over to Yuki, kissing her and making my excuses before going home. She seemed a bit disappointed, but it wasn't my business to watch the two best friends talking.

As I walked out of the clubroom, I slammed right into Tsuruya and Mikuru, both of whom seemed to have been passing by, and, Tsuruya being the stronger of the two of us (embarrassingly enough), was only pushed back a few steps while I was thrown off balance and fell down.

"Oh, geez… I'm really sorry… Kyon! Wow. Talk about coincidence nyoron. I thought you would still be in there making out with Nagato… Ahahahahahahaha!" Typical Tsuruya behavior. Say something slightly funny and then crack up. I had to admit, though, her laugher was contagious, and there was something I had always wondered.

"Hey, Tsuruya-san, I've been curious even before the world was changed, but how did you end up with that one fang in your mouth?"

"Oh? Wow… Not a lot of people have ever been bold enough to ask me that nyoron. I can count the number on two hands, actually. Well, it's a funny story actually. I've had this sharp tooth for a while, and yes, the lisp as well, although it was much more pronounced when it first happened nyoron… I was just starting martial arts lessons, you see, and I forgot to put in a mouthguard when I was sparring against an older kid, and he kicked me in the face. My tooth didn't fall out, but it cracked, and ended up sharpened like this. The dentist didn't fill it or anything, but rather, only cleaned it and smoothed it out to prevent decay. Now it's just like any other tooth nyoron, except my tongue gets caught on it occasionally and causes a slight lisp. I got in trouble once in grade school cuz I pretended I was a vampire and bit someone! Ahahahahahaha!" I sweatdropped at this. Sadly, I could see her doing something like that

"Oh… Um… S-sorry. I guess it was a rude question…"

"Nah, don't worry about it! Actually, my mouth may have been bleeding quite a bit, but a fragment of my tooth got stuck in the other kid's foot, and they had to cut it open a little to get it out… I think he still dislikes me because of that nyoron…"

Well, gee, if I had to get my foot cut open because someone's tooth got caught in it, I think I'd be a bit sore, too."

"Ahahaha! I suppose you're right… Well, see ya later, Kyon!" Tsuruya said cheerfully, running off with Miss Asahina in tow. I thought for a moment. I could have gone down to the café. Maybe Haruhi or someone like that would have been there, but that would be extremely awkward at best. I don't get the feeling she's too pleased with me right now… It's not that it matters anymore, but I do somehow feel that Haruhi ended up getting the short end of the stick on this whole world changing endeavor. So, with that thought in mind, I sighed and trudged home. The walk seemed a lot longer without Yuki-chan walking next to me. Although we sometimes didn't say anything to each other, just knowing that she was there was kind of nice, and certainly made me feel more energetic. Strangely, though, as if in answer to my silent grumbling, I heard frantic footsteps behind me, and Yuki suddenly almost ran into me. I dodged out of the way at the last second, displaying an alacrity that I really wasn't aware I had. I then grabbed her arm gently, making sure not to squeeze too tightly and stopped her from running right over the edge of the road and down the hill below. It wouldn't have killed her, most likely, as it was a relatively small hill, even if it was rather rocky and steep, and to further compound what might be a large problem, vines, and other thorny plants grew all over the hillside, which ended in a small stream in which she certainly wouldn't have drowned in, but might have been stuck there a long time if she… Why am I even thinking about this? These are horrible thoughts to have. I shudder to think what would happen if _I_ fell down this hill, let alone what would happen if Yuki-chan did.

"Th-thank you, Kyon-kun…" Yuki muttered shyly, blushing slightly, even as she panted, trying to catch her breath. Suddenly, she started coughing, and sneezed.

"Sorry… *Hack! Cough!* I get allergies this time of year. I love watching the flowers, but they make me feel horrible…" Yuki said, trying not to sound like she was complaining too much.

"Yuki-chan, are you alright? You don't look well." I said, concerned about her. I helped her stand up fully, and together, we made our way down to her apartment. I took her up to her room, and made sure she was alright before making my way back to my own house.

When I got there, Hana wasted no time in teasing me, of course. Although, I didn't expect much better.

"What's this? No _Yuki-chan_ today?" She asked rather mockingly. I scowled, but otherwise didn't comment. No point, I figure. So, I simply went up to my room, and started on my homework. I had made a decision that starting now, I was going to start taking school more seriously. After all, now that Haruhi didn't own my life, I had much more free time. So, I opened up my bookbag and began doing math.

It was four hours… Four grueling, pitiless, and frustratingly long hours later that I was able to put down my pencil and stretch my horribly cramped hand. I looked at the English I had done, all perfectly translated, at my math, hopefully well done… If the luck of Haruhi is with me, Classic Literature, whatever that was I was supposed to do. I still don't get that shit, whether it's Japanese, English, or Spanish, which, coincidentally, I also had tonight, and I completed it, though with less certainty than I did English. It was at that moment that the phone rang downstairs, and I heard my little sister pick it up.

"Hello? Who is this please?" She said, using the polite greeting that our parents had taught her, just in case it was a business call.

"Ahhh…" She said smugly, and then said, "Just a minute… I'm sure he can make time for _you_…"

Instantly, I knew who it was. I couldn't remember when I gave Yuki my number, but that was irrelevant. She could've gotten it from any number of sources, including the phonebook… But she had never called me before. I never really pictured her as the type to sit around and talk on the telephone. She seemed more the type to sit around alone and read.

"Hi, Yuki-chan…" I said, scowling at my sister silently, who stuck her tongue out at me and ran off giggling. She knew she could get away with that kind of stuff. First of all, though I acted like she was annoying, I didn't really mind that much, so even when she truly did annoy me, she didn't take me seriously. She even calls me Kyon. She can't even be bothered to use my real name, which I actually kind of like, thank you very much.

With this in mind, I walked back up to my room and shut the door. I knew that my sister would be along to eavesdrop as soon as she felt the coast was clear. She was a sneaky little one… It would've been cute in a kid half her age, the precociously mischievous child… Not for her, though. I guessed I would have to keep my answers vague enough that she couldn't get any information out of me. That was the last thing I needed.

"H-hi, Kyon-kun… I-I'm sorry t-to call you so late… I just…"

"Don't worry about it. I just got finished with my homework, so I'm still wide awake. What's up?" I asked casually. I was hoping to hear how her conversation with Asakura went. I guess I got my wish.

"Well, R-Ryoko was…" She stopped. I waited. "She told me she's in love with me…" Yuki blurted out all of a sudden, forcing me to jar the phone away from my ear.

"Really? What spurred that on?" I asked, feigning ignorance. For a moment, I just listened to Yuki's breathing, then she spoke again. "I-I don't know for sure… I get the feeling she spoke to someone… Maybe she consulted the school counselor? I-I didn't ask."

"Did you respond to her? I mean, what did you say back…?" I asked. I was curious now.

"I-I… I'm afraid maybe I hurt her, because I told her that she was kind of like an older sister to me…"

"Well, it was as good a response as any you might give…" I replied. For another few moments, no words passed between us.

"S-sometimes I get the feeling that she can use psychometry, Kyon-kun…" Yuki said nervously about Asakura. Now to you the reader, I have no idea what psychometry is, so I went to my computer and silently typed it into a google search, and found that it was the psychic ability to read strong emotional impressions off of objects or people. In popular culture, it's often used to track someone, or to read a crime scene, and in Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix, it is revealed that Legilimency was not true mind reading, but actually a magical form of psychometry. Well, I didn't need to know all that about popular culture and Harry Potter, but now I at least understood what Yuki-chan was saying.

"Yeah? Why do you think that, Yuki-chan?" I asked with a bit of a laugh… I tried to keep it quiet, though.

"W-well… She said that she knows something's been on my mind all day… A-and it was true!"

"Really? What were you thinking about that she so astutely managed to pick up on?" I asked. Yuki-chan gasped, but then spoke again. "D-do you remember our conversation over the weekend about December 18th? You said I should tell Ryoko. I was considering all day when I should talk to her about it. I was afraid that she would be angry at me for being such a coward…"

"Hold on a second, Yuki-chan…" I held my hand over the mouthpiece on the phone, and spoke to the room at large. "Hana! Get away from the door!" I heard a gasp from outside, and scurrying footsteps down the stairs, which indicated that I had been right. I put the phone back to my ear again.

Even over the phone, I could hear Yuki's voice wavering. She was starting to cry again. I felt bad that I couldn't help her.

"So, how did she react when you told her?"

"W-well… She… She wasn't angry, but… It was the first time I had ever seen Ryoko cry. I-I felt bad that I had upset her so much, so I tried to get her to stop crying, and that only made it worse… I-I guess I'm not very much help at all. After all, what good have I ever done for anyone…?" Yuki said miserably… "I got my parents killed, I ruined your movie, I upset my best friend, I…"

"Stop!" I said forcefully, and in shock, Yuki's voice cut off midsentence.

"Just hang tight. I'll be right over…" I said. At least I was finished with homework. Although I feared I wouldn't get to eat dinner that night. I ran out of my room, ignoring my sister, who was too close for coincidence to my door, though not right next to it.

"You eavesdrop on me again, I'll coat my door with superglue next time!" I threatened. I turned around briefly and saw my sister with a terrified look on her face, obviously imagining our mother trying to get her off the door.

"They'll have to surgically remove your ear and shave your head! Ahaha!" I said in a moment of sadistic creativity. I heard my sister whimpering now, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit bad that I had scared her so much. Nonetheless, I raced to put my shoes on, and perhaps for the first time, I wondered how a simple girlfriend situation had turned into this. Granted, I hadn't expected Nagato to be so anomalous that even the alternate Yuki would be broken, but still… Really? Nagato? You couldn't have tried a little bit harder to make Yuki a normal girl? This seems like the kind of tragic past Haruhi would think up for the main heroine in some action manga that she has to overcome to realize her true powers. Of course, since Nagato did steal Haruhi's power, perhaps she accidentally took more than she bargained for, and created a world similar to that which Haruhi would have created under the same circumstances.

Speculation aside, though, as I pulled into Nagato's… Sorry, Yuki's apartment complex, I pushed such thoughts to the back of my mind, wondering now why I was in such an unholy rush. It wasn't like she was going to die anytime soon… I think… She was upset, but not insane… So, I took a deep breath and walked in the door just as, you guessed it, Ryoko Asakura came into the building as well.

"Hello, again, Kyon…" She said politely, smiling, although she looked somewhat suspicious.

"Visiting Yuki-chan at such a late hour? How unconventional. Romeo would have simply called up to her balcony, and delivered a romantic monologue… But I guess you aren't that creative, are you?"

"Bite me…" I replied sarcastically, continuing to walk even as I spoke to her. "So, you went out to do some shopping?" I asked. It seemed a stupid question. Of course she had. That was why she had bags filled with groceries in them.

"Huh? Oh, I suppose I did. But I actually got them for Yuki-chan. I'm trying to get her to cook for herself more often. I think I mentioned once that she barely ever eats on her own. When she first moved in here, I came to her apartment about two days after the move and found that she had no food in the fridge, or anything, and she was still sitting in the same spot with her luggage still packed in the corner, reading a book."

_Yeah, that sounds like something the old Nagato might do. Of course, the old Nagato probably didn't need to eat, and anything she did eat was probably converted into ones and zeroes or some bogus shit like that._

"So, you're going to see Yuki-chan now?" I asked in interest. She nodded and smiled. But then her eyes narrowed. "And why are you here, Mr. Prince Charming?"

"I just got off the phone with her. She seemed upset. I was concerned…" I said as succinctly as possible.

"Oh? You called her? How sweet…"

"Negative, again. She called me…" I replied. I knew that my story was sounding odd at best, if not downright flimsy. Ironically enough, it was true. She had called me, and sounded quite distressed.

"Hm… How unusual. She hardly ever uses electronics. She even took months to warm up to using that dinosaur of a computer in the clubroom. She has the money, I keep encouraging her to buy a laptop, or at least a more modern machine, but she says she doesn't want to. We're here…" She said, pulling me out of the elevator and dragging me to the door, ringing the doorbell.

"_N-now! B-but… Asakura-san…"_ Yuki said timidly over the intercom.

"Just let us in. Kyon is here as well." After a moment, the lock clicked, and Yuki peeked her head out the door.

"C-come in…" She muttered, looking as though we had just interrupted her doing something extremely embarrassing… Maybe we had. It wasn't my business, but what would Yuki-chan be doing that was so very embarrassing that she wouldn't want to let us in?

I walked in and removed my shoes at the door as usual, and smiled at Yuki, hugging her. I didn't feel now was the right time to be too intimate, especially with Asakura in front of us. I still feared the secret Yandere inside her. Yuki smiled weakly at us, and rushed into the kitchen to make some tea. I remembered when I first came over here… Even before Yuki became a normal human, Nagato made tea, but was a little bit confused on serving it. She had insisted that I drink the entire cup, then poured more, and repeated this three times after that. I felt like I was going to burst. Only then did she talk. This Yuki seemed like she might be pretty good at serving tea, maybe even as good as Miss Asahina… I could hope, right? Now, to anyone still reading this, you can be fully assured that I have no lingering romantic affection for Mikuru Asahina. However, her tea was the best… That much will never change. I'm not quite sure how she did it, but she made excellent tea.

Moments later, Yuki-chan came scurrying out with a teapot and three china teacups… They were so cute, with little blue flowers painted on them, and frankly, they looked rather expensive, so I reminded myself not to break them. I didn't have the money to replace something like that.

"Please sit…" Yuki said in a near whisper. Asakura and I went over to the table and sat down, and she poured the tea for us.

"I-I bought a new kind last weekend, s-so I'm not sure if it's any good…" Yuki said nervously, pouring a cup for herself as well. She then knelt down and looked at me as though waiting to hear what I thought of the tea. I couldn't help but smile at this. After all, what was the worst that could happen? The tea was bad, and I'd have to lie and drink it anyway? I put the teacup to my lips and drank… It was actually really good. It didn't taste like it came from a teabag either…

"You don't by any chance use loose tea leaves, do you, Yuki-chan?" I asked. Yuki blushed and nodded.

"Y-yes! W-why? Did I get some loose leaves in your tea! I'm very sorry, I'll go make it again right away…"

"That's not it, calm down… It just didn't taste like it came from a teabag, so I wondered. It's good." That was when I found out that Yuki-chan was indeed quite as good as Miss Asahina at teamaking.

Now that we had finished our tea, Yuki was looking nervously between Asakura and me, almost like she didn't want to say anything… But which one of us was supposed to leave? Who did she want to speak to? Fortunately, my question was answered by Asakura.

"I get the hint…" She said with a giggle. "I only came to bring your food and to make sure you were alright… See you tomorrow…" She said. She then looked back at me and winked. I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, though, coming from her, it wasn't likely anything good. As soon as Asakura shut the door, Yuki spoke.

"I-I'm sorry that I made you come all the way here… D-did I wake you?"

"No… Not at all. I had actually just finished my homework."

"O-oh… Um… Kyon-kun? D-do you… find me attractive?" Yuki asked suddenly. It was such a blunt question that I was hardly sure how to begin to answer that… So, for a moment, I didn't say anything. As so often happened, Yuki-chan seemed to interpret my silence negatively, and began rambling.

"I-I mean, I understand if you don't, and after all, looks aren't everything, but there are so many beautiful girls around you, like Ryoko, and Miss Suzumiya, Miss Asahina, and Tsuruya… A-and I'm so plain compared to them, so…"

"Yuki…" I said quietly, putting a hand up to her mouth, silencing her immediately.

I guess the simplest answer would have been to say 'yes'. It was true, after all… If cuteness like hers was a crime, she'd be doing life without parole… Maybe she was just in need of a new mirror… Okay, bad joke, but seriously, I kind of get the feeling that when Yuki looks in the mirror, the reflection that's there and the reflection she sees are a bit different. But then, who isn't at least a little bit insecure about how they look. There's not a person alive who can honestly say that there isn't one feature about them they would change if they could. I don't think that anybody else would ever be able to call Yuki-chan 'plain' or 'unattractive' though.

"Of course I do. You're insanely cute…" I replied. It was the best I could think of, so sue me… It seemed to relieve Yuki's worries a bit, though, because she gave me one of those cute smiles of hers that made me feel that just maybe there was a big guy upstairs looking after me. After she smiled at me, I stood and sat down next to her, embracing her, and kissing her on the lips once more.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Even for one such as me, who didn't get allergies this time of year, the sweet smelling flowers and pollen that saturated the early to mid springtime air caused the rest of the week to go by in a torpid haze. By the time I realized what had happened, it was late Friday, and Yuki-chan was in the middle of asking me on another date. Since the last one had gone so very wrong, I reasoned, this one could not possibly be any worse, and in fact, even in the face of Murphy's Law, which I fully endorsed, statistically, since the probability of failure was so very high last time, the probability of success this time would have to be at least equally high, perhaps around 80%… Or so I hoped. And so, to raise the odds for a successful date, I was given the choice for where we went… Remembering Nagato's wish that we go to the public library together again, I suggested a trip to the library… An easy and safe date to be sure, but one certain to catch Yuki-chan's interest, and almost certain not to end in disaster, i.e., in Yuki-chan becoming sick to her stomach. However, I was fairly certain that the library, being a place of learning, and not of bloodshed and gratuitous violence, would be perfect for her delicate stomach.

So, on Saturday, I got ready in a hurry and ran out the door, ignoring my sister's much less enthusiastic teasing about me going on a date (I think she was still scared that I would have her ear cut off) and rode my bike straight to the library, where I met Yuki outside. So far, everything was working out well. I had arrived on time, even, by Haruhi's standards, who would consider me late if I arrived after her… Okay, I wasn't that early. It seems Yuki-chan was nervous again… How adorable… And arrived earlier even than I did. This led me to wonder if this girl ever slept. She often calls me as late as 2100h or 2200 hours, not that I really mind, although I gave her my cell phone and asked her to call that so that I could simply set it on vibrate and not wake anyone (since my sister usually went to sleep around 2145h. I remember fairly well that she apologized profusely when I made that request… I wasn't angry… I still can't quite get over how different from Nagato Yuki-chan is.

"Yuki-chan!" I called loudly. Even over the large crowd outside the library, I heard her small gasp as she looked up… Damn, she's cute! Must focus… Can't let metaphorical nosebleed distract me from date!

"Kyon-kun… Um… Thank you for giving me a second chance!" She said, bowing in an overly formal manner, coming off as rather mechanical and forced.

"What? Why are you thanking me… I should be apologizing to you for last time…" I replied… Then, on a more personal and selfish note, I whispered, "C'mon, pick your head up! People are staring…" For indeed they were. We had caught the attention of several people, none of whom seemed to know quite what to think… I figured it far better to hurry our way into the library. I kind of wondered what we would do. I wasn't a big reader, although there were some kinds of books that I enjoyed. I had chosen the spot more for Yuki-chan's enjoyment, though, than my own. It seemed an appropriate spot for a bibliophile such as her, and I'm still pretty proud of myself for thinking of it, if I do say so myself.

When we got inside, Yuki-chan suddenly looked at home. She sighed contentedly and took a deep breath, apparently smelling the air in the library. I admit that library's generally did have an "old book smell" about them. That smell of aged binding material and worn out paper that had gone from white to off-white to yellow… Then there was the whirring sound of computers ever-present, although that was a fairly recent addition. Up until about five or so years ago, card catalogues had been the only method short of asking a librarian for finding books. I got the feeling that if Yuki-chan had her way, she would still use card catalogues. Unlike Nagato, Yuki-chan didn't seem terribly able with computers, although I could be dead wrong.

Together, we walked, or rather, she walked and I followed, into an aisle and began looking at books… Or rather, she looked at books, and I simply looked around at whatever was close by. Finally, we decided to split up, and checked our watches to agree on a time to meet, although I didn't stray too far, not because I was worried, but because it was kind of fun to just watch Yuki get absorbed into a book, her eyes skimming over the pages, barely taking in the world around her, her glasses sliding down her nose, although for all the notice she gave it, it wouldn't have mattered if they fell off outright. After a while, I did get bored, though, and I went off to find a book that I would be interested in… I wound up in the manga section, and leafed through a few action/fantasy mangas before checking the time. I really wasn't a library person.

Finally, I gave up pretending I was interested by any of the books around me, and went to the computer to surf the web for a while. I must have lost track of the time, because the only thing that snapped me out of my daze was a crash in the back of the library. I checked my watch and saw that over two hours had passed. I was supposed to meet Yuki in about ten minutes, and would probably have gone to see how she was doing (if she was still reading the same book, or had finished and moved onto another one). However, I noticed that people were running around now, talking in exaggeratedly loud voices, unusual for a library. So, being curious as I was, I followed the people to the back, and saw that a bookshelf had toppled over. Fortunately, they were placed far enough apart that only one shelf was damaged.

That was weird in itself, but what was even more bizarre was that Yuki-chan just happened to be sitting on the floor at the end of the aisle, looking as though a monster had just attacked her. Why couldn't our dates ever be normal? I suppose I should be worried about Yuki-chan, and I am, but right up next to that is a morbid curiosity and that ever present question that I asked myself every day in the old world, "Will I never be allowed a normal life?" Even in this world where things have changed so drastically, life never seems to be normal. Granted, it's more stable than I could have dreamed it would ever be again in a million years.

Finally, Yuki-chan seemed to regain her senses, and she grabbed something, stood up and ran off with surprising celerity for someone so small and seemingly unathletic. Regardless, though, I followed (naturally) and found myself in an unlit room. After my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw Yuki-chan sitting on the floor in the corner, gasping, looking rather like she was having a heart attack.

"Yuki-chan… What happened!" I shouldn't really have needed to ask, although the answer I got was something I never would have expected. She didn't say anything, but just handed the piece of paper that she had grabbed to me. I unfolded it, and looked at it. It was extremely neat, small, and cramped handwriting that I couldn't really see in this darkness. So, after asking if I could turn on the light, I flipped the switch and began reading. I have to admit, for the rather nonsensical garbage I was reading, it was very neatly written and his grammar was perfect.

Dear, Yu-tan,

You may not remember me, but I remember you perfectly, down to the last detail, from your silky smooth, milk white skin, your soft purple hair, your slender build, right down to your perfect tiny fingernails. First, I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that I'm not angry. You were young then, and the shock of losing your parents must have been too much. I had to do it, though. They would never have let us be together. They didn't understand my love for you. I see that you are currently dating a boy from your school. I'm not surprised. You're a beautiful woman, and could probably make any man fall for you in an instant… But he doesn't deserve you! You're far too good for him, and it's time you understood that and came back to me. I'm the only one who can truly understand you. I'm the only one who can show you all the love and attention you so rightly deserve. I promise that if you submit and come with me that I won't injure him. I would take no pleasure in harming him. I don't believe him to be evil, just misguided, and so I will give you this chance to leave him and come to me as you should have done from the beginning. Then, all will be forgiven, all will be right.

Eternal love

XXXXXXX

For a moment, I merely stared at the letter. Then, I reread it once, then twice. However, neither time was I able to make any more sense out of it than the first time. Then, I suddenly remembered that Yuki-chan had mentioned that it had been a stalker who had murdered her parents. I looked back over at Yuki and saw that she was sobbing rather hard by now. Although her tears were silent so as not to bother anyone, her chest was heaving in and out, and her body was racked with occasional spasms when she gasped for air. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, now. I was a little bit afraid to leave the library. This guy seemed really crazy and dangerous. I knew that now wasn't the time to be scared, but that didn't help me feel any better about my position. Finally, Yuki calmed down enough to speak, and she smiled weakly at me.

"K-Kyon… kun… Please d-d-don't hate me, b-but I have to obey him! I love you, but… I don't want you t-t-to get hurt, so…"

"Don't even finish that…!" I said, grabbing her shoulders firmly, causing her to gasp in surprise rather than pain, I hope. "I'm not going anywhere, and this stalker or whatever he is can go fuck himself!" I said with more confidence than I felt. I pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her just as the police burst into the room, and, seeing me, pulled out their guns.

"Get away from the girl, now! Put your hands up!" One of them shouted. Obviously, there was no point in arguing with men with guns. I was outmanned and overpowered. It would all get sorted out, either here or at the police station. So, I allowed myself to be cuffed and led out to the police car, while Yuki was driven to the station in another car.

"Please state your name…" The officer said sternly.

"Kyosuke Matsuhara…"

I had been stuck in this stupid interrogation room for almost an hour. They had given me water to drink, but nothing to eat, and I was getting hungry and frustrated.

"We found you on top of the girl, Nagato Yuki. What were you doing with her?"

"I was kissing her, if that's really any of your business." I answered, becoming quickly annoyed with the fact that they wouldn't stop asking the same questions.

"A man identified you as the one who pushed the bookcase over."

"Oh? That's impossible. I was over on the computers."

"Really? What were you doing on there?"

"Going on Facebook. In my haste to see what had happened, I never logged out of my account. Would you log it out for me?" I replied. I think I was finally losing my patience. Even I had my limits. I had endured protracted abuse from Haruhi, but this was cruel and unusual.

"I see. If you were so very close with Miss Nagato, why weren't you over there when the bookcase crashed?"

"We decided to go on a date to the library, but she was absorbed in her book, and I can only sit still for so long doing nothing."

"So you're saying Miss Nagato is your girlfriend?"

"Yeah, very good. How long did it take you to figure that out? Did you think about it while you were stuffing your face with donuts and pizza?" I responded with a smirk.

"Why you little snot!"

"Matsumoto!" The other officer said. I could only guess that he was of higher rank.

"Do you have anything to prove that you weren't there, son?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it… Here, it's a letter from the stalker to Yuki-chan."

I threw the letter up behind my back, and the officers scrambled to catch it. One of them did and read it.

"Fine. You're free to go for now. Just be available if we have any more questions."

"Oh, I look forward to it."

I started to go out, but then, I turned around, and said, "Is Yuki-chan alright?" I asked. I figured she was probably scared stiff right now, stuck in a police station being questioned by the cops. Even in the best of circumstances, I wouldn't fancy being in her position.

As I walked out of the interrogation room, I was blindsided by Yuki, who ran over and hugged me tightly. As I had predicted, she had gotten pretty upset. I don't blame her, of course. We were in there for probably more than an hour, although my cell phone had been taken away, so I wasn't sure exactly.

"Kyon-kun! I'm sorry! It's my fault you were arrested! Please forgive me!" She cried. Although it was cute how timid I kind of wish she wouldn't make a scene in the stationhouse.

"Don't worry about it, Yuki-chan. Apparently, someone was out to get me, too. Someone lied and said they saw me push the bookshelf over…"

In the midst of this, I sighed again. It seems to be a recurring theme, maybe even a curse that all of our dates are doomed to go badly. The first one was ruined by overzealously graphic cinematography, and this second one was ruined by the stalker who had pursued her when she was younger reappearing. Now, I could appreciate that Yuki-chan must be terrified right now, both for herself and for anyone around her. Honestly, I'm a little unnerved myself. Hopefully the stalker meant what he said about not wanting to hurt me. Unfortunately, one of the prerequisites for that was that she break up with me, and I wasn't planning on doing that… Call me selfish, call me whatever you want, but I was happy with Yuki-chan, and I felt that I might be able to help her, if only a little bit. Honestly, I don't have much interest in being the main protagonist. Even in my previous life, I was secondary to Haruhi, who would surely be considered the heroine of the story. In this life… Who could really be considered central to the plot? I mean, we all are the main characters in our own story, but that's just one of those things you tell your kids to make them feel good about themselves… I never really put much stock in that saying. Maybe Yuki-chan was the main character? I could believe that… A shy little bookworm with an overprotective best friend, a somewhat cynical boyfriend and a surprisingly eloquent stalker who murdered her parents, presumably in a fairly bloody fashion given Yuki-chan's aversion to blood. It might make sense in some ways. Plotlines never work out as neatly and clean as they do in mangas, though. There's never a true main character unless the story is told from that person's point of view, and even in my case, I would hardly say I'm important enough to warrant making a main character.

As I thought about this, I realized that we were once more back at Yuki-chan's apartments. This time, Asakura wasn't waiting for us in Yuki's apartment, much to my relief. That girl still scared the crap out of me. The minute we got inside, Yuki-chan did something that surprised me. She kissed me rather passionately, although she was at least a head shorter than I was, and she had to stand on her toes to reach me (so cute).

"W-what was that for?" I asked, not angrily, just… shocked. It was so unlike her.

"I-I still am not sure how to repay you f-for saving my life back then… No matter what I do it will never be enough. You saved my life, even though it probably wasn't worth saving… Even though everyone else probably would have been happier if… If I had just died like I was s-supposed to…" Yuki began. Once again, I began to see just how insecure she really was. It wasn't just shyness that plagued her. It was low self-esteem and depression… It was weird, though. Even though normally, I'm a terrible speaker, I had a sudden insight into Yuki-chan's mind, and I knew exactly what to say. Was this what came from being near her for so many months? Did Asakura have this kind of insight?

"Yuki-chan, first of all, I already told you… You don't owe me anything, because I didn't do anything that warrants being repaid. Second, if I really did save your life like you say I did, then if nobody else, I would have been sad if you died… And Asakura would too… She cried when you told her what had happened…" I said gently, putting a hand on her cheek, which was wet now with tears. It seemed like she cried a lot, but especially when we went on dates… Was I really that horrible a date?

"Besides, what makes you think you were _supposed_ to die? Why would you think your life wasn't worth saving?"

"I-it's just… I-I can't…"

"Yuki-chan, you should probably sit down and have something to drink. I'll go make some tea. Ehehe… Could you tell me where the tea is?" I said. It was ironic that I was making tea for her in her own apartment, but at the moment, I didn't really trust her at the stove, so it fell to me. She told me where the tea was, and I looked in the closet and got some chai tea out before setting the water to boil. She apparently had pretty advanced equipment in her kitchen, because the water boiled quickly, and I poured the water over the tea leaves into the kettle and brought it out, pouring some for us. I don't doubt that Yuki could have done a better job, but it would have to do for the moment.

"Yuki-chan, I've only ever told vague stories about you guys from the other world that I lived in. They're 100% true, by the way, although sometimes I wished that they weren't. But back when you all had powers, your personality was much different from the 'you' that you are now. You were stoic, introverted, and really lacking in anything remotely resembling a personality… At first, anyhow. But then, Haruhi formed the SOS Brigade, and she began dragging you along on all her wild adventures, and Haruhi, you, Koizumi, Miss Asahina and I became as close as any five people could be. You were one of our best friends, and Haruhi probably would have gone insane and destroyed and rewrote the entire world if you went missing. I don't know how she would have rewritten the entire world. I still don't quite understand how Haruhi thinks. But I can guarantee that it would be a world that had you in it. You were irreplaceable to us… And you still are. Even if the world is different, it doesn't mean you're any less important to us…"

"W-were you… also dating th-the other Nagato?" Yuki asked nervously, taking a shaky sip of her tea. At least she didn't spit it out, so I guess I didn't do too bad a job.

"No. She was strictly there to monitor Haruhi… But she saved me from certain death plenty of times

"Sh-she saved your life?" Yuki asked, looking up at me, eyes wide. I smiled and moved around the table, sitting down next to her, and hugging her.

"Yep. She was pretty amazing. But you are as well, though for different reasons…"

"Y-you think… I'm… Amazing?" Yuki gasped, as though she wasn't quite sure how to take this compliment. Suddenly, Yuki jumped up and hugged me tightly, again, kissing me once more. I never could quite get enough of her. She was so adorable, and sweet… After a moment, our kiss once more became passionate, and the two of us sort of made our way over to her bedroom, where I noticed, instead of the completely empty room, there was a low bed. Yuki breathed heavily as we sat down on the bed, kissing heavily our hands moving all over each other. After a moment, we broke away, both of us breathing heavily and slowing down. As is a well known fact, I'm not an athlete by any means, and neither is Yuki-chan, although she may be better than I am, given her ability to play DDR so well. Slowly, we moved back together, and my hands moved more slowly this time, lifting her tank-top from her body. She gasped nervously and started to cover herself up, blushing deeply in embarrassment. I stopped her, though.

"Don't worry about it, Yuki-chan… I told you, you look beautiful…" Hearing this, I guess calmed her down, because after that, her slender, smooth arms fell to her side, and she allowed me to move my own hands up and down her sides, feeling the gentle curves of her body. Although she was still blushing heavily, she sighed in what I can only assume was pleasure, as I kissed her cheek, and then began to move down her face to her jawbone, then her neck, and made my way down to her shoulder. Each time I left a kiss, she squeaked. It was adorable to hear her make those sounds, and a total turn on. After a moment, I stopped and looked up at her, staring her straight in the eye.

"Do you think you should take off your glasses, Yuki-chan?" I whispered. For a moment, she didn't say anything, but then she nodded, and removed them.

"I uhh… D-don't take them off very often. I-I can't see very well without them." She whispered, putting them off to the side. After that, I removed my own shirt and pinned her down to the futon mattress. At this much heavier movement, she gasped, but I kissed her gently once more to ease the tension, and began to remove my own pants. This was the first time I was doing something like this, so I was just as nervous as she probably was. What if I was making a mistake? What if this really wasn't what she wanted, but she was too shy to say so? Would that make me a rapist?

Thoughts like this crossed through my mind one after another, casting much doubt on myself. I guess Yuki-chan was more perceptive than I thought, though, even without her glasses, because seeing my doubt, she giggled, and said in a voice that was more confident than I had ever heard from her, "th-this is what I want as well… Kyon-kun…"

After that, I couldn't help myself. We were both only wearing our underwear, so I reached around behind her, and unhooked her bra, revealing her breasts. At this, she glanced away once more, muttering something about them being too small. It was true that she had small breasts, but, honestly, at the moment I couldn't help but feel that the biggest breasts in the world couldn't match how unbelievably adorable she was. So instead of saying anything, I simply smiled at her and kissed her once more, before moving down to her breasts and taking one of her nipples in my mouth, flicking my tongue over it. At this, she gasped loudly, also releasing a strangled cry, and I noticed that her panties had become slightly damp. She gasped and moved her hands down to cover the wet spot, but I put a hand on hers and pulled the panties down, rubbing along her entrance, brushing my finger gently over her clit, causing her to cry out again. I continued this motion, reveling in her cute cries until she climaxed on my hand.

"K-Kyon-kun… Y-you can… Put it inside me, now… I-if you want…" she said shyly. I nodded and removed my boxers, placing my stiff cock at her entrance.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Yuki-chan?" I whispered in her ear. She nodded at me, and for some reason, this reminded me. I reached in my pocket and pulled a foil packet out of my wallet.

"That idiot, Taniguchi gave it to me when we first started going out."

"_Safety first, buddy boy!"_

_I guess I'll have to thank you, now, won't I? Damn it!_ I thought as I put on the condom and slid into Yuki-chan, breaking past her hymen quicker perhaps than I had meant to, because she released a cry of pain as I did so, and I noticed that a small amount of blood had come out, and was leaking down the inside of her thighs.

"Sorry… I-I…"

"I-it's my first time, Kyon-kun…"

I suppose I should have realized this. A girl as demure and quiet as Yuki-chan, of course she hadn't had sex before… But I guess it didn't really cross my mind while we were fooling around before. Now, I almost felt a little bit guilty… Again, though, Yuki seemed to know how to put me at ease.

"Don't… I'm glad that it was you who took my first time, Kyon-kun… P-please continue…" She whispered, reaching up, and stroking my cheek. I reached back down to her, and wiped the tears off of her cheeks, and then began to move inside her. I can't even begin to relate how amazing the feeling was. It was eternal bliss, like I had died and gone to heaven, if indeed heaven did exist. I thrust in and out of her, gently at first to make sure that I didn't cause her undue pain. She seemed to enjoy it, though, because along with me, she was gasping, and calling my name in that sweet, soft voice of hers, her chest heaving in and out as I moved back and forth inside her. So, as my confidence increased, I began to move slightly faster, and the faster I moved, the more the ecstasy and friction built between us. The world began to disappear into a pink haze, and the only thing I could see was Yuki-chan's face, and the only thing I could hear was her voice, calling my name, as we slowly built towards mutual climax. Finally, the two of us gasped in release, and I collapsed on top of her, making sure to fall slightly to the side so that I didn't crush her tiny frame.

"I-I love you, Kyon-kun…" She whispered between breaths. I smiled lovingly back at her.

"I love you, too, Yuki-chan…"

And so ended what I must say would probably be the best date of my life. Slowly, we fell asleep in each other's arms, the world fading away to nothingness.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The two of us didn't wake until much later when the sound of the doorbell jarred us from our sleep. Yuki-chan gasped and struggled quickly to clean up a bit, throw her clothes back on and get to the phone, whereas I took longer to wake from my torpor, clean myself off, as I was by far the messier one, and get adequately dressed for company.

"R-Ryoko?" I heard Yuki whisper from the other room, and I began to panic. Surely, she would note that something was wrong, and murder me, now, that I had slept with Yuki-chan. Granted, it had been completely consensual, but I still didn't trust that girl to be rational. After a few moments of protracted but weak argument from Yuki-chan, she ran over to the door and allowed Asakura in. My insides froze, and I stood stock still. Nonetheless, Asakura looked over at me and smiled.

"I had heard that there was a problem at the library, and that a young man was arrested for assaulting a young woman with glasses… Knowing your luck, Kyon, I assumed the worst…"

"Bite me…" I said, slouching slightly. Asakura looked at me, slightly surprised at my hostility. But I _really_ didn't want to discuss what happened.

"Hm… It smells strange in here… How unusual, you usually keep this place spotless, Yuki-chan…"

"Y-yeah, well… I-I guess…"

"But this smell seems familiar." Asakura continued, interrupting Yuki and sniffing around the apartment like a bloodhound. Finally, she made her way towards the one place I would have never wanted her to go… The bedroom. She slid the door open, and her smile faded.

"You scoundrel…!" Asakura said, glaring at me. "How could you even think of doing that to Yuki-chan?"

"N-no, wait! I swear…" I began. I was sure Asakura didn't want to hear it, though. She advanced slowly towards me, but I was so paralyzed with fear that I couldn't move fast enough, and before I knew it, her hands were around my throat.

"How dare you defile Yuki-chan like that?" She whispered, her eyes half closed, glazed like she was in a trance. I gasped in pain as her fingers contracted, closing on my windpipe. I barely heard Yuki screaming at Asakura to stop. My arms moved shakily to try to break Asakura's grip, but her arms and her wrists were too strong, and they held fast, despite my own and Yuki-chan's best efforts. I continued to try anyway, but my hands and arms were starting to tingle and go numb, and shortly, they simply fell to either side, completely useless.

"I will protect you from anyone who tries to harm you…" Asakura said to Yuki, smiling once more, despite the look of horror on Yuki's face. I get the feeling that I would have died that night had the doorbell not rung once more. Asakura let go of my neck and I fell to the floor, gasping for breath, my chest heaving in and out, my hand massaging my sore throat, now. Yuki scampered to the door, and looked through the peephole to see a man in a hat with a large basket of flowers.

"Personal delivery for a Miss Yuki Nagato!" He shouted. Yuki opened the door, looking out at the man. He didn't seem dangerous. He merely handed her the flowers and tipped his hat. Yuki reached down into her pocket and pulled out some money to tip the man, and he thanked her and left.

"Well, Yuki-chan? Who is it from?" Asakura asked as Yuki shut the door, and looked at the letter, and gasped, tears or terror forming in her eyes.

Dear Yu-tan,

I know what that man did to you. What he did was unforgiveable, and I promise, I'll make him pay for it. It just goes to prove, though, that I'm the only one you can trust. Not that blue haired girl, not your so-called boyfriend, who would be so barbaric as to rape you. Only I can make you feel safe, and if you won't realize it on your own, I'll make you realize it. You will be mine, one way or another. Make it easy on yourself and come to me willingly. I know you're scared to leave that monster, but I can protect you from him! I'll protect you from the whole world, and together, we can live happily forever…

Eternal Love

XXXXXXXX

"Huh? Who the fuck is this weirdo!" Asakura said, scrunching her face up and acting in a very undignified manner.

"Yuki-chan, th-this means he has cameras inside your apartment…" I said. He had made references to us sleeping together. That could only mean that he had bugged her home. That was frightening. "Perhaps you should live with someone else for a while. I think I know just the person. Hold on…"

I pulled out my cell phone, and went through my contacts. It felt wrong to be asking Haruhi for a favor like this, but she was one of the few people I trusted in this world to keep Yuki safe. The other one would have been Tsuruya… However, I didn't know her nearly as well, and felt uncomfortable asking her for a favor, or, at least more uncomfortable than I felt asking Haruhi.

"Suzumiya Haruhi… Speak now…" Came the voice on the other side. So like Haruhi. Short, sweet, and to the point.

"Hi, Haruhi? I'm really sorry to be calling you at such a late hour…" I said, trying to convey my worry over the phone. It seems she picked up on it, because, she replied quickly.

"No, not at all, John… I'm surprised you called, though. What's up?"

"I wouldn't normally ask for a favor like this, but do you think Yuki-chan could stay with you for a little while? She's… got some personal issues right now, and we're not sure it's safe for her to be living alone."

"Yeah, of course. Do you want me to come get you guys? I could probably get my folks to drive her to my place."

"No, no. Just give us directions, we'll walk…"

"Okay… See you soon, then…"

And with that, we hung up, and I watched as Yuki-chan got a coat on, and Asakura and I took her down and out of the apartment. We figured we could get her some clothes later. For now, it was more important to get her to Haruhi's safely. She had texted me directions from Yuki's place, and I was following them quite perfectly. Asakura, however, seemed suspicious. As we walked down the street, her eyes were narrowed, and she was looking this way and that for any sign of danger, and sure enough, as we were walking past an alley, Yuki shrieked as she was grabbed, and I felt something hard and cold slam into the back of my head. I yelped in pain and fell to the ground. Asakura tried to help me, but I waved her away.

"No! You get help as fast as you can! No use both of us getting hurt!" I said. Besides, I was seriously pissed at this guy, now. Threaten Yuki-chan, try to hurt her, get me arrested, and finally smack me in the head with a metal bar. He was gonna pay. I jumped up and tackled the man, who reached for his knife, and slashed at me. I just managed to roll off in time to avoid my neck being cut, but he managed to cut open my right eye. I shouted in pain. I would have thought this was really cool if I wasn't so scared for my life.

"Yuki-chan! Go with Asakura!" I shouted. Yuki shook her head violently, but I shouted once more, "DO IT!" She was about to go, to, when the man pulled out a small pistol and shot her in her leg. Yuki cried out in agony and fell to the ground, unable to walk now.

"Sorry, Yu-tan! I can't lose you again! You'll understand someday why I'm doing this!" He shouted, tears forming in his eyes as he punched me in the face. I was seeing stars… So cliché, but true. Regardless, though, I ducked the next punch, and picked the bar up off the ground and swung it as hard as I could at his head. It hit straight on, but in his fervor, he barely seemed to feel it, and he grabbed the bar and slammed it down on my shoulder, which I felt being crushed under the force of the attack. I groaned in pain as my left arm fell limply to the side, but still continued to attack. I couldn't let Yuki-chan be taken by this crazy man, so I punched as hard as I could at his chest with my right hand, only succeeding in breaking a finger. Using that opportunity, he pulled out a larger gun, and shot me. I gasped as the gun cracked loudly, and the bullet tore through my shoulder.

Even though my vision was hazy, I saw Yuki-chan gasp as she saw the blood, and I saw her beginning to get sick. She struggled to stand up, but her left leg was too weak from being hit with a bullet, and now, from blood loss. Despite my injuries, though, I grabbed the man once more in a desperate final attempt. He took a boxcutter from his pocket and slashed at my neck. I felt it go straight through my Carotid, and I gasped weakly as the blood spurted out. In my last moments of consciousness, though, I saw Yuki-chan limping weakly behind the man, dragging her shot leg behind her, with his small gun, and she held it up to the back of his head.

"S-sorry, but I c-c-can't let you hurt anyone… else…" She whispered. So like her to apologize to a murderer, and she pulled the trigger, though the backlash from the gun knocked poor Yuki off her feet.

BANG!

The shot sounded as though it was from a thousand feet away, with the loud drumming in my ears already, but I barely registered that the man had released me, and fallen to the ground. He was dead, but I was soon to follow. I saw Yuki-chan drag herself over to me, and I smiled up at her.

"Hey, Yuki… chan…" I gasped. "A-are you… Alright? You were… Awesome…"

I know. I was acting totally awesome just then, right? Too bad I only got to act so cool when I was about to die. It doesn't seem quite so cool, now, does it? I could've chosen to be a brave deadman or a live coward. I made my choice, and I don't regret it for an instant.

"Ryoko! Miss Suzumiya! Miss Tsuruya! P-p-please help Kyon-kun!" Yuki cried miserably. Well, she had gotten help. Hopefully she had also called 911 on the way so that Yuki's gunshot wound could be fixed. I could feel the last vestiges of my strength slipping away, so in that moment, I called for Yuki.

"Y-Yuki-chan… I-I just… Wanted to… kiss you… one last time…" Who knew I could be such a romantic?

"No! NO! You can't die! You can't leave me alone!" Yuki demanded, being more outspoken than ever. She tore apart her jacket and pushed down hard on my neck wound, and suddenly, a light began to glow… Although that may have just been the afterlife calling to me… It was so warm. Whoever said dying was cold was full of shit. I felt like I was right next to a crackling fire, and it felt amazing… Slowly, and with no regret, I closed my eyes for what I was sure would be the last time.

"_Huh? Why is it so dark? Did I die?"_

"_You did not…" Came an empty voice from behind me._

"_Ah! N-Nagato! I-I thought…"_

"_I thought, too… However, the extraordinary circumstances through which you sacrificed your life to save mine allowed for me to perform a minor miracle, slowing the flow of blood through your body so that your blood loss would be less severe. Yours was a life threatening wound, a severed Carotid Artery will kill in minutes. However, with my intervention, you should be able to survive at least another thirty before you exsanguinate. There is still no guarantee of success, however, you now have a chance. Look at yourself. The EMTs are there, and fixing you up to life support. They are now putting an IV in you in the hopes that they can maintain your blood level until you can get to the hospital and be sutured. Do you wish to go back?"_

"_Is that even a choice? If I wake up, I do. If not, I die."_

"_You always have a choice, Kyon. You of all people should know that…" Nagato said, sounding slightly exasperated._

"_No. I have to continue living. Yuki-chan told me so. She told me that I can't die yet. And so, I have to go back…"_

"_Then… This is goodbye… And thank you… Take care of the one you so affectionately call Yuki-chan… Take care of the person that I always wished I could be."_

"_Then you…"_

"_Goodbye…"_

And with that, I woke up. I looked around and realized that my vision was skewed. Was I injured in one eye in the… The fight! I was blinded in my right eye. I looked at Yuki-chan, and saw that she had a scar on her left leg where the bullet had gone through.

"K-Kyon-kun!" Yuki cried, hugging me. At that moment, I had an idea that, despite being somewhat mean, was still totally worth it.

"Do I… know you?" I asked, feigning a blank look. Yuki gasped and pushed away from me, blushing heavily, and looking back at Asakura, who smiled apologetically.

"Th-the doctor did say you might have amnesia from the blow to your head. Do you remember anything at all?"

"I remember… That you tried to strangle me earlier that night, Asakura…"

"Yes, and I'm tempted to try it again if you play that kind of trick on Yuki-chan again, Kyon…" She replied, gritting her teeth as a vein throbbed in her forehead. At this, though, Yuki could only laugh, even as tears formed in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. The sight of her laughing so freely was kind of nice, and so contagious that I started laughing as well, and soon, everyone in the room, including Haruhi and Koizumi were also laughing.

"You're pretty when you blush, Yuki-chan, but you look even better when you smile…" I said, reaching across with my right arm and taking Yuki's hand with my one good arm. My left one, as I well recalled, had been shattered by a pipe.

"And not for nothing, but you looked pretty sexy holding that gun…" I said with a laugh that hurt my shoulder. Hearing this, Yuki stopped laughing and turned bright red. Apparently she had forgotten about that.

"I-I only… I-I had to… H-he was…"

"Yuki-chan, I know. I would have shot him too if I had been able…" I said, patting her hand consolingly, for she showed every sign of being about to have a nervous breakdown. If I had known that I would upset her that much, I wouldn't have said anything.

"Whoa! You're saying Yuki shot a gun!" Tsuruya asked excitedly, clearly not getting the picture.

"I-I…" Yuki stammered.

"Hey, Miss Tsuruya…"

"Please, Kyosuke… Call me Akane…"

"Well, Akane, please don't tease her."

"What? But I wasn't… Oh… S-sorry, Yuki…" Tsuruya said, glancing away looking slightly embarrassed.

"N-no, it's not… Please don't apologize…" Yuki said, smiling at Tsuruya. I don't think I would ever get used to calling her anything other than Miss Tsuruya.

"Well, we should let these two be alone for a little while…" Asakura said said, smiling at me in a way that she hadn't done before. It was a smile that showed real gratitude. I wasn't sure I deserved it, though. I had allowed Yuki-chan to get shot. What kind of man was I? I'm not usually the type to wallow in guilt, but this Yuki has made me look at everything differently. Would Yuki-chan ever be able to walk normally again? She was on crutches right now. Surely it was just a broken leg and it would heal in time, right? So, as everyone but Yuki left and shut the door, I looked over apologetically at the girl with whom I seemed to have fallen in love.

"Sorry, Yuki-chan… I should have been quicker. If I had been a little bit faster, he wouldn't have been able to shoot you."

"No! Kyon-kun… Y-you saved me again. You keep saving my life, and never asking anything from me… And now… Y-you've lost your eye, your neck will have a scar for the rest of your life, and you've gotten terrible injuries, all because you were trying to keep me safe… I'm the one who should apologize."

"Yuki-chan, you keep telling me that I saved your life. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. We'll never know because nobody's figured out how to turn back time yet… What I do know is that my life here would have been terribly bland and lonely if you had killed yourself… So you've already paid me back just by staying alive…" I said… Even I was retching at how sickeningly sweet and romantic I was being right now. I hope Yuki-chan liked it, because romance movies never sat well with me. Maybe I'll try to get used to it in the future.

"B-besides, wounds will heal, scars will fade, and I'll get used to only having one eye. But you can't pretend that losing someone you love wouldn't be a thousand times more painful than the worst physical injury you could possibly think of."

"Y-you mean… You… love me?"

I stared blankly at her for a moment. How the hell did she think I felt about her? Did she think she was just some passing fancy of mine… This thought was kind of funny, and I'm slightly ashamed to say that I indulged in my humorous mood, because I burst out laughing.

"Ahahahahahahahahaha!"

"W-well… Y-you could at least not laugh at me about it!" Yuki shouted, turning beet red.

"S-sorry… It's not that. I just thought it was obvious enough already that I loved you."

"O-oh… Thank you…" Yuki said shyly, smiling at me. Then, "I love you, too… Please promise you won't leave me…"

"What? What would make you think…? Of course I won't leave you."

Yeah, this whole thing is ending up reading like a bad chick flick… That didn't mean that I wasn't happy with it, or that I would have wanted it any other way.

We were about to kiss again when Haruhi, in all her self-proclaimed glory barged in and slammed the door. Nagato yelped in surprise and shoved me away from her, turning bright red. Suddenly, Haruhi looked completely different. She didn't have the usual scowl, or self-satisfied smirk on her face anymore. She looked like she was actually concerned about someone besides herself.

"John…" She said. I have to say that it's kind of ironic that I really do seem to attract weird girls… Although Yuki-chan isn't exactly 'weird'. She's just… I guess I could say that much like Haruhi, Yuki-chan defies absolute description. She's shy in one sense, but brave enough to tell people what she wants if she wants it badly enough… She's painfully timid, but seems to be able to express other emotions as well as shyness… And then Haruhi was Haruhi and nobody but Haruhi…

"I can't believe you nearly went and got yourself killed like that!" Haruhi said, grabbing me by my collar, causing Yuki to panic slightly.

"What would you have had me do if you died, huh! I would've had to throw myself on your cremation fire like Indian women are supposed to do! My life has finally gotten interesting with you in it, and you think you have the right to just up and leave, now!" She ranted. Yuki was in the corner, quietly trying to convince Haruhi to stop shaking me, and I couldn't help myself. I started laughing… Laughing so hard that my ribs hurt, as I believe that several of them are still broken. I laughed and laughed, and Haruhi let go of my collar and stumbled back as I continued to laugh hysterically. This was so utterly Haruhi… The kind of self-serving logic that our great and infallible brigade leader would have come up with to justify her own selfishness. _I_ wasn't allowed to die because I was the reason _her_ life was interesting. It had been a long time since I had heard her talk like that, and to be honest, I missed it. Although I wouldn't trade this new life for anything, I'm glad that the old Haruhi is back to some degree, because life was far too quiet with normal, relatively polite and pleasant Haruhi. I couldn't help but admit that all of us, including Yuki-chan needed her asinine and insane adventures to keep us on our toes.

I only stopped laughing when I felt my chest seize up, and I gasped, and coughed up blood, causing Yuki to bolt out of her chair and run over to me. It was kind of nice to have beautiful women worrying over my health… But I don't want to repeat this experience. In anime, a near death experience only makes the character stronger, but I get the feeling that even a major character like me isn't lucky enough to cheat death twice… Not that I was the one to cheat death, anyhow. Nagato's explanation sort of made sense to me, although to be honest, I wasn't sure if I completely got it. Something about slowing my blood flow so that I wouldn't exsanguinate as quickly… If that's really what she did, then kudos to her, and thank my lucky fucking stars… I think I'll start bowing down and worshipping Nagato as 'God' now. After all, she's done way more for me than the 'big man upstairs' ever has.

How many times does this make it that she's saved my life? Let's see, Deranged Asakura, Mikuru Beam the First, Mikuru Beam the Second, Giant Evil Cricket Phenomenon… Was there anything else? Oh, yeah, and this most recent event. That makes five times Nagato has saved my sorry hide from certain death. I think a little worship for her is in order… Better her than Haruhi. After all, Haruhi was the one who caused most of those incidents… Doesn't that make Haruhi more like the Devil than God? And by that logic, wouldn't that make Esper Koizumi a Satanist? No wonder he had such unnatural powers! In the wise words of Carrie's mother*, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!" I wonder if holy water and chanting "the power of Christ compels you!" would work against Haruhi's power? I doubt it. Knowing her, she'd be immune to every demonic weakness out there. But I digress. My point was that now that I had stopped laughing, I noticed that even Haruhi was blushing slightly.

"W-w-what's so damn funny!" Haruhi raged, stomping her foot.

"Oh, i-it's nothing, Haruhi… What you just said reminded me a lot of the other you."

"Oh? Were you and the other me lovers or something? You sure speak fondly of her…" Haruhi said, smirking back at Nagato. This time, it was her turn and, especially my turn to blush.

"W-what! No way! The other you didn't take a thing I said seriously! We had sort of a strange friendship, I guess. It's completely impossible to describe the dynamic of it. We weren't dating or anything, though…"

"Ah, methinks thou doth protest too much…" Haruhi said with a snicker. "Eh, but it doesn't matter now, anyhow. I see the way you two look at each other… There's no way I can beat _that_." And with that, Haruhi stalked off, shutting the door behind her. Once again, Yuki and I were alone.

"Hey, Yuki-chan… I have a question. The stalker, whatever his name really is, called you 'Yu-tan'. Why? I've never heard anyone else, even Asakura, refer to you as that. Most of your friends either refer to you as 'Nagato', 'Yuki', or 'Yuki-chan'. It can't just be from his own head. He seemed to consider himself even closer to you than Asakura or me, so…"

"It was my parents…" Yuki said shyly, her eyes starting to fill with tears.

"M-my mother and father used t-to call me Yu-tan… Even when I started getting older and I went into middle school, that was their name for me. I was always a little bit childish and sheltered, so I never asked them to call me anything else…"

"O-oh… Sorry… I shouldn't have asked…"

"No! It's alright that you asked! I told you, Kyon-kun, you've saved my life twice now… Th-the least I can do for you is answer your questions honestly…"

"Yuki-chan…" I complained. How many times would I have to tell her that she didn't owe me anything? First of all, I don't doubt that the stalker would have murdered me, too, after he secured Yuki, so I was also acting in preemptive self defense. Second… I think I very well might have gone temporarily insane when that happened. What else could have prompted me to ignore my own sense of self-preservation like that?

"I-I know what you're going to say, Kyon-kun… Thank you…"

"Hey, did they ever find out who that man was?" I asked. Yuki smiled at this and nodded.

"He was a foreigner named Dirk Roswell… H-he broke out of prison in the US about 10 years ago, and moved as far away as he could, which would be Japan. He got a job at my middle school as a groundskeeper. Now that I think about it, I did talk to him a few times back then. He always seemed like a nice person, if a little bit eccentric…"

Yeah, eccentric. That was stretching the definition of that word to the breaking point. It's hard to believe that someone as intelligent as Yuki-chan wouldn't have picked up on his madness sooner. Of course, she was only 12 or 13 at the time, so I suppose I really shouldn't be too surprised.

"I don't know exactly what happened to him, because one day, he simply disappeared from the school. I didn't find out until later that he had been caught trying to break into my locker, and been fired."

"I see."

I see? Was that really the best I could come up with?

"I hope you get out of the hospital soon. I'd like to at least try to go on one decent date with you…" Yuki said, laughing with that shy smile on her face that lit up her features.

It seemed as though the worst was over. We had had two dates so far, and on the second one, ironically, I was almost killed. It seems as though bad luck follows me wherever I go. Fortunately, though, after that date, my luck changed, and all our dates started to go wonderfully. I dated Yuki-chan all the way through high school, and even as we went on our way to college. She graduated with a degree as a librarian (funny how some things keep popping up), and with all the adventures that I had with the SOS Brigade, I took a bunch of classes in English, Literature, writing, etc… and became an author (go figure), writing under the pen name Nagaru Tanigawa. Shortly after high school ended, in what I suspect was more of Nagato's tampering, I began to have dreams about events that I can only suppose _would have_ happened had I decided to go back to my old life… And thus, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya became an internationally acclaimed series, being turned into a manga and an anime as well as the novels… And I have that completely insane and totally egocentric Haruhi Suzumiya to thank, along with all my friends from the SOS Brigade… Eventually, Yuki-chan and I got married, had kids as any normal couple would do, and now we live a relatively quiet life. I say relatively because Haruhi is still a part of it, and though she has calmed down a lot, she's still quite as eccentric, and still, ironically, my number one fan (I'm so flattered).

I'd also like to add for the record that I'm deeply relieved that I decided to stay in this normal world, because had I decided to go back, shit would've only gotten weirder and my sanity degraded even further, and I don't doubt for a minute that I could've simply ended up in a psychiatric ward… So help me Haruhi…

**The End**

A/N: For any who don't know, Carrie was a horror movie released in 1976, based on a book by Stephen King about a girl with telekinetic abilities. Her mother was a religious fanatic who believed that Carrie had received her powers from the Devil, and in the end, after uttering that line, she tried to drown Carrie in the bathtub.

Well, that's it. I rewrote _The Confession of Yuki Nagato_ because of a few comments that I got. I haven't deleted the old version because it has overall been well accepted. Say what you want, but I enjoyed the challenge of rewriting the ending. Thank you all my loyal fans… Mwahahaha!


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